New mobile customers in Thailand southern regions, home to a restive separatist movement, will now have to supply biometric data event to purchase pre-paid SIM cards.From next week, during registration, fingerprints will be matched against data stored on identification cards.Attacks in the region near the border with Muslim-majority Malaysia, have intensified this year. The latest bomb, outside a supermarket in Pattani town, wounded 60 people this month. ramote Prom-in, a spokesman for government security forces in the region, told Reuters fingerprinting would make it more difficult for insurgents to buy pre-paid SIM cards and could help authorities identify bombers.”It can help prevent using mobile phones to trigger bombs, and with registration we can track attackers,” Pramote told Reuters.
Thailand to require biometrics for pre-paid SIMs in restive south
