NCC arrests five suspects over sale of fraudulently-registered SIM cards

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As part of its routine enforcement activities to sanitize the industry of criminal elements, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) arrested no fewer than five suspected individuals for allegedly engaging in fraudulently registering and selling Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards.

The operation was carried out by a joint team from the Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Department of the Commission, operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) on Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in the Wuse area of Abuja.

A statement by Director, Public Affairs of NCC, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde “the arrested suspects were subsequently handed over to the NSCDC Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command, Wuse, Abuja for further investigation with respect to the allegations leveled against them.”

The statement said the NCC’s Head of Enforcement, Salisu Abdu, who led the joint enforcement exercise, said the exercise was part of the routine activities embarked upon by the Commission to rid the industry of criminal elements engaging in fraudulent registration of SIM cards.

He said pre-registering a SIM card is an offense punishable under relevant regulations in the telecom sector and constitutes a breach of national security.

“It is criminal and fraudulent to pre-register a SIM card in Nigeria and it is an offense punishable under the law. Though the Federal Government recently lifted the ban on the sale of new SIM cards, it should be noted that proper registration of SIM cards and linking them to National Identity Number (NIN) before activation has now become a prerequisite,” he said.