5,827 SIM cards recovered from the local mobile service providers on the second SIMBOX raid

Officers from the CAK (Communications Authority of Kenya) established on the raid on the 2nd SIM BOX operation that indeed the activities involved illegal international call termination using SIMBOX devices, which is in breach of the ICT sector law.

Section 24 of the Kenya Information and Communications Act, 1998, as amended, provides that anyone operating an illegal communications system commits an offence and is liable to a fine of One Million shillings or to imprisonment for a term of five years or both.

Consequently, the Police jointly with the officers of the Authority recovered 4 SIMBOX equipment with a combined capacity to hold 144 SIM cards that can simultaneously make calls where a landlord of a property in Lavington along Amboseli Drive, sought to know the business in which his tenants were involved in but the tenants resisted leading to a commotion.

Also recovered, were a total of 5,827 SIM cards from the local mobile service providers. In particular, the officers found 3,017SIM cards from Orange, 2,678 SIM cards from Airtel, 52 branded Yu SIM cards and 80 SIM cards from Safaricom. The police arrested one suspect for further questioning.

Mr. Francis Wangusi, CA Director General at the press conference said that they will be working closely with the police, mobile operators and other stakeholders to curb the illegal installations. He continued to say when asked that if investigations were done and that the local mobile providers were found to be collaborating or aiding those involved in the illegal activities there were even heavier fines which would even include revoking their licences.

CAK called upon the mobile operators to put in stringent control mechanisms in the distribution of their respective SIM cards and monitor activities from individual base stations to isolate such base stations that exhibit unusual traffic volumes in order to identify and help in eliminating the SIM box activities.