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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Crime & Justice

Police warn that pre-registered SIM cards threaten Nigeria’s national security

From ThisDay · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources In the courts
  • The Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre said pre-registered SIM cards create serious national security risks.
  • Centre director AIG Akaninyene Ezima said the cards give criminals fake identities and make tracking more difficult.
  • Ezima said telecom companies were not directly involved based on the investigation, but urged them to tighten oversight of vendors.

Pre-registered SIM cards sold by telecommunications vendors have become a serious national security concern in Nigeria, according to the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre. The center’s director, Assistant Inspector-General of Police Akaninyene Ezima, made the warning at a press conference in Abuja.

This is a threat to national security. Totally, we have 50 pre-registered SIM cards. That is 50 fake identities.

· Akaninyene EzimaThe cybercrime center director described the security risk posed by the cards at a press conference in Abuja.

Ezima said the cards make it easier for terrorists demanding ransom and other cybercriminals to operate while complicating efforts by security agencies to trace them. He said police had recovered devices from suspects and subjected them to forensic analysis, with information from that work still under review. The cases, he added, would go to court.

“This is a threat to national security. Totally, we have 50 pre-registered SIM cards. That is 50 fake identities,” Ezima said. He warned that anyone could assume those identities and commit crimes, putting the country at risk.

Anybody can assume these identities and commit any crime. And then, in the course of this business compromise, the nation is put at risk.

· Akaninyene EzimaEzima explained how pre-registered cards could allow criminals to operate under false identities.

Ezima said police would not join telecommunications companies in a lawsuit because the investigation had not shown that the companies directly sold the cards. Instead, he blamed some vendors working for the companies, saying the practice violated the law. He urged providers to be more careful when selecting vendors and to strengthen controls around their premises, where people sometimes sell SIM cards.

They are not actively involved in the direct sale of pre-registered SIM cards because it is against the law. Rather, it is those that are working for them.

· Akaninyene EzimaHe said the investigation implicated some telecom vendors rather than the companies themselves.

The police official said the companies regularly engage with authorities and should not be stigmatized for crimes committed by individuals. He said police were pursuing the small number of people involved, despite the companies’ legitimate business operations. The briefing ended with a question about which telecom company had the most pre-registered cards among the exhibits, but the supplied report cuts off before Ezima’s answer.

Let us not stigmatise these companies; they are doing their legitimate businesses, they are not responsible for the actions of the criminal.

· Akaninyene EzimaEzima defended telecom companies while urging them to improve vendor oversight.
About this summary

Originally published by ThisDay in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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