Officials of enforcement unit of National Communication Commission (NCC) on Wednesday raided sim card selling outlets in Minna, Niger State capital; and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, arresting nine suspects for selling preregistered sim cards in the process.
Five of the arrested were picked up in Minna, while the remaining four were arrested in the FCT, Abuja, the Chief Enforcement Officer, Mr. Shuaibu Tswade, said.
He explained that that those arrested were mostly big time sim card dealers, an act contrary to the law on sim cards registration.
Some of those arrested in Minna were however discovered to be hawkers as one of them told our correspondent that he was not selling sim cards but, “I only helped him get the sim card the way I do to my other customers”.
The suspect, who gave his name as Hussaini, said, “I don’t sell directly. I only do registration”.
All the suspects were handed over to the police for prosecution if they could not pay the N200, 000 fine provided for in the law.
The Chief Enforcement Officer, Mr. Shuaibu Tswade, said that after the operation at the Obasanjo Shopping Complex in Minna that enforcement would take place in the remaining 35 states to sensitize the public about the law.
He pointed out that the NCC was collaborating with the police and other security agencies to ensure strict compliance to the law prohibiting open sales of sim cards as the law is aimed at reducing crime in Nigeria.
