Th e Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) has apprehended four suspects involved in selling pre-registered SIM cards in Jigawa. Th e NCC’s Head of Enforcement Unit, Mr Salisu Abdu, who disclosed this in Dutse yesterday said that the suspects were arrested at Hakimi Street and Dutse new market, Dutse, the state capital. He said the arrest was made possible because the collaborative eff ort of the state’s Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), adding that the suspects were apprehended after the commission received an intelligence report about their activities in the area. According to him, the commission was also able to confi scate about 70 pre-registered SIM cards during the operation noting that the commission had in 2010 issued directives that new SIM cards must be registered before being activated for one’s personal use. “As you know, NCC is the sole regulator of telecommunication industry in Nigeria. So, we are in Jigawa today as part of our regulatory functions. We received a security report that there is prevalence of pre-registered SIM cards being sold to the members of
the public. “You may understand that preregistered SIM cards are SIM cards that are already registered by proxy and sold to individuas who are interested. Th ese pre-registered SIM cards are mostly used by insurgents, armed robbers, kidnappers and other criminals,” the offi cial said. He said that the NCC as regulatory body had done a lot in the area of SIM card registration through the supervision of SIM card registration across the country He noted that after the 2010 directives, a lot of engagements were made by the commission to ensure that they were complied with. “Today in Jigawa, based on the security report, we,in collaboration with the NSCDC, have apprehended four suspects involved in the sales of pre-registered SIM cards. We have handed them over to the Civil Defence Corps for necessary investigation and prosecution,” he said. Abdu, therefore, warned people to desist from buying such preregistered SIM cards, pointing out that they were mostly used by criminals. “Nigerians should stop buying and selling these type of SIM cards. Th ey are mostly used by criminals such as insurgents, kidnappers and armed robbers and they may one day kidnap, rob or kill someone close to you,” he warned
