March 3, 2005
Singapore plans to regulate pre-paid phone cards to curb terrorism
Singapore is planning to regulate the sale of pre-paid mobile phone cards following evidence terrorists have used them to help carry out attacks, Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng revealed, reports the AFP.
"Wong said that in terrorist incidents abroad, militants had exploited the anonymity offered by pre-paid cards to carry out their deadly missions.
Singapore's Internal Security Department has found that the Sri Lankan separatist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Southeast Asia-based Jemaah Islamiyah "made extensive use" of mobile phones loaded with pre-paid cards, Wong said Thursday.
Evidence that mobile phones have been used to remotely trigger explosives have been uncovered in several major terrorist attacks worldwide, including last year's Madrid train blasts.
The use of pre-paid cards is popular because it allows the user anonymity as there is no contract with the service provider.
Related articles:
-- Prepaid Phones Get a Bad Rap From Crime Use - In Japan, a wave of crime involving the use of prepaid phones by con men has tainted the service's image, turning it into a scapegoat for all kinds of social ills.
-- Norway: Police want mobile phone cash cards stopped - The untraceability of the current cash cards for subscription-free mobile phones is a boon to professional criminals
-- Swisscom Blocks 130,000 Prepaid Mobile Phone Numbers - Switzerland's incumbent telephone operator, Swisscom, this week blocked some 130,000 prepaid mobile phone numbers because their owners failed to register them by an end-of-October deadline,
-- Switzerland forcing registration of PrePay customers - The Swiss parliament decided last year to make registration mandatory for prepaid cards, after intelligence warnings that members of al-Qaida were using them to make calls without being traced.
-- Prepaid phones to be outlawed in Japan - The government coalition in Japan is preparing a law to outlaw prepaid mobile phones. The reason given is that too many prepaid phones are used for crimes.
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