SIM Card Vendors Arrested
Some SIM card vendors in Nigeria have been arrested by Nigerian security agencies for selling pre-registered SIM cards to consumers. The suspects were arrested after selling these cards to undercover security agents in Abuja. Sale of pre-registered SIM cards is illegal as it interferes with the ongoing government effort to register all SIM cards in the country.
The number of SIM card vendors arrested in the operation was not disclosed, but the new law governing SIM card registration specifies punishment of fines or imprisonment, or both, for offenders. The new regulations require subscribers to personally register their SIM cards on new phones in order to activate them, with no proxy registrations allowed. The laws took effect in February of this year, and from that time all SIM cards purchased in the country are only able to receive text messages or calls but cannot originate any communications prior to registration with operators who issue the SIM cards.