Seven charged with unlisted SIM card sale

By FRED MAKANA

KENYA: Police probe into claims that terrorists who attacked Westgate Mall used unregistered SIM cards for communication yesterday landed seven mobile phone dealers in court.

The seven, among them Margaret Njeri Nduta, Eunice Murimi David, Miriam Wairimu, Appolynalius Machuki, Joseph Ndichu Maingi, and Paul Njoroge, appeared before Nairobi Principal Magistrate Peter Ndwiga accused of failing to register subscribers for telecommunication services contrary to Section 4(1)(3) of Kenya Information and Communication Regulation 2012.

According to prosecutor, the accused were arrested on Monday from various locations within Nairobi County where they were found selling unregistered Safaricom and Airtel SIM cards.

Six of dealers pleaded guilty to the charges and the magistrate ordered each to pay a fine of Sh50,000 or serve six months in jail.

The arraignment in court of the dealers comes in the wake of a strong warning from Information Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i that agents who sell unregistered will be prosecuted.

Renewed push for registration of SIM cards follows claims that the terrorists that attacked the Westgate Mall two weeks ago used unregistered mobile phones and SIM cards that have made it difficult for security apparatus to trace them.

According to latest CCK statistics, Airtel was ranked as the worst offender with 385,000 unregistered subscribers on its network while Essar (YuMobile) had 298,000 as of September 26.