Police bust illegal SIM card registration racket at New Park

Three people are in custody after a joint operation uncovered an alleged illegal SIM card registration racket at New Park Wholesale Building in Kampala’s Central Division.

Police said the suspects were allegedly registering and selling Airtel, MTN and Lyca Mobile SIM cards using other people’s identification documents without authorisation.

During the operation, officers recovered new SIM cards, fingerprint scanners, registration books and several national identity cards.

Deputy Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire said the operation followed information received in late July about suspected illegal SIM card registration and the duplication of identification documents.

He said the suspects allegedly duplicated passport documents and used them to register SIM cards for different individuals.

“They were also suspected of duplicating passport documents and using them to register new SIM cards for different individuals, as well as selling and registering Airtel, MTN and other network SIM cards without the required authorisation,” Owoyesigyire said.

Among the items recovered were new Airtel, MTN and Lyca SIM cards, fingerprint scanners, Airtel and MTN registration books and several national identity cards.

Preliminary police findings indicate that some of the recovered identification documents may have been used to register multiple SIM cards in the names of different individuals.

Police have since written to the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) to establish the registered owners of the recovered national identity cards.

Owoyesigyire said police were also engaging Airtel and MTN to establish whether the suspects were authorised agents of the telecommunications companies.

The three suspects remain in custody and are assisting police with investigations as detectives work to establish the extent of the alleged racket and trace other people suspected of being involved.

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