Chris Alu with Agency Reporter
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over the weekend arrested three illegal SIM card dealers in Bwari, FCT, as part of its efforts in checkmating illegal SIM card sales and insecurity in the country.
Salisu Abdu, assistant director, Law Enforcement Unit, NCC, told journalist that the suspects who were arrested had been handed over to the police.
According to him, the commission had since 2012 advised operators and all dealers across the country to stop selling registered SIM cards. “We are here for the continuation of our exercise to stop illegal SIM card registration in Nigeria.
“We got a report that the sales of registered cards were still ongoing in Bwari and we found out that the information was true and we arrested three suspects with different registered SIM cards.
“We have handed them over to the police for investigation at the end we will get to the root of where and how they got those cards and prosecute them accordingly,’’ he said.
He said some of the suspects that had been arrested since the exercise started in 2012 were still being investigated. Salisu said the commission had even after giving the warning realised that some operators and dealers still continued with the sales of the cards.
“Some registered the cards and brought them to the market for sale. Investigation has just started and we are bent on getting to the root of the matter.
“This is another opportunity for us to advise the public that the purchase of registered cards is an offence because of the security threat to the nation. “Everybody knows the security situation in the country today and that some people are using mobile telephones to carry out kidnapping armed robbery and a lot of fraudulent activities.
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