In Pakistan, to prevent this, you either can only buy a cellphone whose IMEI was registered with our regulatory authority (when it was imported via official means), or you can register a personally imported phone with absurdly excessive taxes, which makes the whole point moot.
(btw you can only buy a SIM that's linked to our national identity card, so the sim will just not work. There is a six months grace period for foreign visitors)
This means that device options are very limited and prices are absurd. You can buy a small car for the price of an iPhone, for example. We easily pay atleast 20%-50% premium on the same device from india, despite having similar economics.
https://dirbs.pta.gov.pk/
(btw you can only buy a SIM that's linked to our national identity card, so the sim will just not work. There is a six months grace period for foreign visitors)
This means that device options are very limited and prices are absurd. You can buy a small car for the price of an iPhone, for example. We easily pay atleast 20%-50% premium on the same device from india, despite having similar economics.