Srinagar, Jun 28 (IANS): The Jammu and Kashmir's Special Investigation Agency (SIA) on Tuesday busted a SIM card misuse fraud and booked a vendor in Kupwara district, an official statement said.

Concerned about the misuse of SIM cards by militants and their overground workers (OGWs), the SIA busted a fraudulent SIM card misuse racket and booked vendor, Javaid Ahmad Bhat, proprietor of 'Bhat Telecom' in Kupwara town, the SIA statement said.

According to the statement, Bhat, working in tandem with OGWs and terrorist sympathisers, sold SIM cards in violation of the Telecom Department directives, through a conspiracy that amounts to cheating and forgery.

"Evidence unearthed reveals that by forging records, the vendor has used photographs of a single person to prepare SIM cards with different names and identities," it said.

How many such SIM cards have been used by militants and their associates in addition to narcotic smugglers is being investigated.

"Further investigation is going on to ascertain as to how many of these SIM cards have been used by those persons dealing with terror funding," the SIA said.

SIM cards thus discovered have been deactivated, but the subscribers of these cards would now be questioned.

The agency is also requesting the Telecom Department to extend the telecom analytics for fraud management and consumer protection (TAF COP) facility to J&K through which the subscriber can check online if a SIM card issued in his/her name is being used by someone else.