TheCable

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says in line with its commitment to stop the use of unregistered SIM cards in perpetrating cybercrime and other criminal activities in the country, it has secured court conviction for SIM card related offences.

The commission said this was made possible through collaborative enforcement efforts with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) and the Department of State Services (DSS).

According to a statement signed by Ikechukwu Adinde, director of public affairs, NCC, on Sunday, the seven convicts were all charged and convicted at the Grade 1 Area Court Nyanya, Abuja and the Senior Magistrate Court, Kano for offences bordering on violation of SIM registration laws in the country on September 4, 2020 and September 24, 2020 respectively.

It said the offenders were: Bako Joseph Boy, Umar Kabiru Abdullahi, Lawal Sani, Shamsuddin Aliyu, George Eze, Ayuba Ishak, and Kabiru Ali.

“Specifically, the first convict, Bako Joseph Boy, was charged with the sale of SIM cards outside controlled environment, while the other six were arraigned on the charge of the sale of fraudulently registered SIM cards,” the statement read.

NCC noted that their offences were contrary to section 517 of the criminal code act; section 65 (1) of the Nigerian communications act (NCA) 2003 and section 65 (2) of the NCC act, 2003 and are punishable under the same act.

“The suspects, who pleaded guilty to the charge preferred against them were subsequently convicted as charged and sentenced to two months imprisonment with an option to pay a fine of N15,000 and six months imprisonment or the option of fine in the sum of N20,000.

“The arrest of the suspects followed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the NCC, NSCDC and DSS to strengthen inter-agency collaboration towards curbing the criminal act of registering and selling of pre-registered SIM cards in the country.”

NCC said the use of pre-registered SIM cards gives cover for unwholesome activities such as kidnapping, call masking, threat to lives, bullying, armed robbery, identity theft financial crimes and SIM swap fraud, among others.

The commission warned and advised the general public to desist from selling, purchasing and using pre-registered SIM cards as it constitutes a punishable offence under the law.