Halting SIM registration affecting fight against fraudsters - Cephas Arthur

The former Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, now the Commander of the East Legon District Command, Superintendent Cephas Arthur, says the stoppage of SIM card registration is jeopardizing the security of the state.

In July 2010, the National Communication Authority (NCA) gave a directive to all telecommunication companies in the country to register their customer aimed at identifying existing and new subscribers to their respective networks

However, Superintendant Cephas Arthur said the program has collapsed hence making it difficult for the police to track down fraudsters and deal with them in the wake of the increasing spate of fraud activities .

On Kumasi-based Kapital Radio in response to how the Ghana police is combating SIM/chip fraud most especially mobile money users in the country he said “you know that, the program is no more and sometimes when you go to buy a SIM card they ask you, do you want the already registered or you are going to register……even this time they don’t ask again, all they give you is the already registered”. He explained.

When asked why the police have not arrested such people, the former director of police affairs said the police is not supposed to be arresting such culprits because the program is not working anymore. Therefore, both the buyer and seller of SIM cards are liable to arrest.

He observed that the situation has created fertile operating grounds for scammers to operate since they are aware there are no trails on their activities.