Five Suspects Arrested For Forged Enrollment Of Sim Cards

The Nigerian Communications Commission on Thursday has declared the arrest of five suspects for apparently engaging in the forging enrollment and sales of Subscriber Identity Module cards.

The arrest was accomplished by a joint team from the Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Department of the commission, operatives of the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in the Wuse area of Abuja.

This was divulged in a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by the Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Ikechukwu Adinde.

“The arrested suspects were afterwards entrust over to the NSCDC Federal Capital Territory Command, Wuse, Abuja for more investigation to the allegations raised against them.”

NCC’s Head of Enforcement, Salisu Abdu, who led the joint enforcement, said the operation was part of the usual activities commenced upon by the commission to cleanse the production of criminal materials attracting the unjust registration of SIM cards.

He further said, Registering a SIM card without being sold is a crime punishable under the regulations in the telecom sector and also constitutes a breach of national security.

“It is fraudulent and unlawful to pre register a SIM card in Nigeria and also an offence punishable under the law, even though the Federal Government recently uplift the ban on sale of new SIM cards, it should also be noted that proper registration of SIM cards and linking them to National Identity Number before operating has now become mandatory”.

He also warned those who are attached in the illegal registration of SIM cards to desist from the unlawful act, as the commission would also continue to work jointly with the law enforcement agencies in its routine enforcement activities and the exercise would also continue in other places in FCT and other states in the country.