by Isi Esene

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has arrested three SIM card agents in Abuja for selling pre-registered cards to unsuspecting subscribers.

According to reports, four offices belonging to mobile phone dealers – Correspondence Ltd, Zeph Associates, Glovic Communications, and Connect Ground Towers, all located in Abuja, were identified as the source of some of the offending machines being used by agents to pre-register SIM cards that are being sold in the streets.

The offices where suspected card agents were not made available to the NCC enforcement team were sealed up. Three suspects, a male and two females were arrested in the operation and handed over to the police.

The commission also confiscated two SIM card registration machines, belonging to one of the leading GSM operators being used for illegal registration.

Efosa Idehen, the NCC official who led the enforcement team, said the commission’s activities against the illegal sales of SIM cards have reached the second stage where dealers are being tracked and the used machines impounded.

He said, “In the last eight months the NCC had gone to different states in the country arresting sellers of pre–registered SIM cards on the streets. Now the Commission is going after the companies and individuals that perpetuate this illegal act which corrupts the database of properly registered citizens of the Country. It is the goal of the Commission to rid the system of this incorrect data.”

The commission’s head of Media and Public Relations, Reuben Muoka who accompanied the team disclosed that the enforcement exercise which has started in Abuja will be replicated all across the country to rid the system of illegal sales of pre-registered cards.

He said, “There is really no hiding place for all those involved in this activity as all the machines used could be identified. It’s time that the agents and sub-dealers who are the major culprits in the illegal registration act, desist from such activities.”