NCC arrests six over illegal sales of pre-registered sim cards in Kano

The Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), on Wednesday arrested six men in Kano for being in possession and sale of hundreds of pre-registered SIM cards which had been banned by the agency since 2O11.
The suspects were arrested in two separate raids carried out by the NCC operation unit backed by security operatives in the GSM village located at the farm centre and the Yankura market in the metropolis.
The Head of the NCC operation unit Mallam Salisu Abdul said the operation became imperative following the rampant sales of pre-registered SIM cards in Kano by unregistered individuals.
According to him, the sales of pre-registered Sim cards is a criminal offence and the commission will continue to raid markets across the country until we are able to stop such nefarious activities.
He blamed the various agents of service providers who sell or give in large quantity of such pre registred SIM cards to individual to unsuspected prospective buyers without proper registration.

Abdul noted that the high rate of kidnapping and other criminal activities are usually carried out with these pre-registered SIMs without proper control by those agents who gave them out in large quantity to these unlicensed individuals for sale to innocent people.
He said the six suspects arrested will be handed over to the police for proper investigation and eventual prosecution.
He added that similar operations are being carried out in Lagos, Abuja, Minna and now Kano, stressing that the raid will be a continuous one.
“However, we have bought one from each of the suspects, we have tested and confirmed that those sim cards are active and they are contrary to our regulation. These are the type of sims they use to commit crimes in the country.
Meanwhile, the police would go ahead and investigate in respect of the remaining sim cards we have recovered to establish whether they are fully registered or not.