Police want Sim-ple way to catch up with mobile criminals

Frontline police have called for a change in the law to regulate the sale of prepaid mobile phone SIM cards which they say have become the communication tool of choice for criminals.

But their call - which would bring Hong Kong in line with an increasing number of overseas jurisdictions - has been met by a wall of concerns over privacy from lawmakers.

Tony Liu Kit-ming, chairman of the Hong Kong Police Inspectors' Association, which represents1,800 officers, says stricter controls on SIM cards that can be bought over the counter at stores would be a 'great help to the force's investigations'.

'Many criminals use these prepaid SIM cards and it makes our investigations very difficult. If we can get some amendments to the current legislation it would make a big difference to us,' Liu said.

Prepaid SIM cards can be bought for HK$100 or more at convenience stores and there's no requirement to produce the details needed to obtain a SIM card from one of Hong Kong's phone companies, meaning there is no record of who uses it.

Individual criminals or criminal syndicates use the untraceable cards to communicate in the commission of an array of crimes, from simple deception cases to highly organised drug smuggling operations. While the police can find out the numbers called from the SIM card in a seized phone, more often than not the calls are made to other phones with prepaid SIM cards and the trail goes cold.