The Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC, has said that it carried out an enforcement exercise in Ibadan, Oyo State between July 9 and 11, 2019 at locations where “SIM Cards were purchased and registered in contravention with the Direction on SIM Card registration in a Controlled Environment.”

This was part of the commission’s yearly report released to DAILY POST.

It said that a total of four suspects were arrested with registered MSISDN lines belonging to MTN, Airtel and Globacom.

The report said that the suspects were handed over to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) for investigation and prosecution.

It added that following the development, a pre-enforcement letter was sent to the respective operators to show cause why the appropriate sanction should not be imposed against them “for the breach in accordance with the Commission’s Direction on SIM Card registration in a controlled environment and the Nigerian Communications (Enforcement Process, etc.) Regulations, 2019.”

In a similar development, Enforcement Action against Fraudulently-Registered SIM Cards was carried out in Abia and Imo States, according to the report.

The Commission said it carried out an enforcement action on the “availability of fraudulently-registered Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) as reported by the NSCDC in Umuahia, and also information gathered from participants in the Commissions awareness programme in Owerri, Imo State between September 10 &13, 2019. ”

It added that, however, “no arrest was made in both locations as there was high level of awareness and compliance regarding the sale of registered SIM cards and its attendant national security implications.”