MINAT boss goes tough on terrorism financing.

The member of government has also issued a 60-day ultimatum and threatened severe sanctions on telecoms operators, should they fail to respect laid down laws and provide detail information on subscribers in the restive Regions, where he disclosed, unidentified subscribers are using mobile money services to fuel terrorism activities. 

The disturbing situation was the focus of an in-camera meeting the member of government held yesterday with top officials of telecoms companies offering mobile money services in the country, MTN Cameroon and Orange Cameroun. 

The meeting, which was staged at the conference room of MINAT, was also attended by the Director General of the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies, ANTIC, Prof Ebot Ebot Enaw.

Minister Atanga Nji explained that the meeting was to put the telecoms operators before their responsibility of identifying their subscribers in conformity with regulations in force. 

The use of unidentified SIM cards in the country, the member of government insisted, is a violation of the law. 

The interior minister issued a 60-day ultimatum for the two companies to toe the line and provide detail information on subscribers in the two restive English-speaking Regions. 

Identification of their subscribers in these troubled Regions, Minister Atanga Nji insisted, would greatly help to block routes used to circulate money to terrorists. 

He also charged the operators to commit to step up identification in conformity with regulations in the Far North and Adamawa Regions. 

Minister Atanga Nji told the top executives of MTN Cameroon and Orange Cameroun that economy cannot be used to jeopardise state security.

“Our mission is to protect people and their properties and that security must return to the North West, South West and Far North Regions,” he told the telecoms officials.

Atanga Nji regretted that most platforms run by the two companies “are not controlled”. He said most personnel of the two companies “are still behaving like criminals”.

“…how can you give 30 SIM cards to a group of terrorists knowing that they will use it to intimidate, send messages to people…,” he questioned.   

“So, you have to help us to help you. If your customers cannot be identified, then they have no business with you, not to talk of the terrorists who are in the bushes,” he stated.  

Minister Atanga Nji then insisted that: “So, within this period of 60 days, I can tell you clearly that you have to put your things properly, otherwise you will face serious sanctions. We cannot jeopardise the security of the State for any purpose whatsoever”. 

Information which filtered during the meeting indicated that about 20 million FCFA was reportedly paid to Amba fighters as ransom for the release of the DO of Bamenda II, while over 5 million was also allegedly paid to secure the release of some kidnapped University lecturers at Mile 18 in Buea.

Administrative and security services in the country, it is said, put the amounts paid to gunmen in the restive North West and South West Regions so far through mobile services at about 320 million FCFA while about 75 million FCFA is also said to have been paid to terrorists in the Far North Region, in barely over a year. 

Investigations carried, it was revealed, indicate that SIM cards used for such operations are not identified. The findings also revealed that the subscriptions to such SIM cards are done with fake names. 

MTN Cameroon and Orange Cameroun, it should be recalled, had been fined one billion and 1.5 billion respectively, by the Telecommunications Regulatory Board, ART, for failing to respect subscriber identification regulations.

The Director General of ART, Philemon Zoo Zame, had said the operators failed to respect regulations relating to subscriber identification, with some SIM cards being activated without any proof of identity.

ART also issued formal notices to the operators, with specific attention to what it described then as "the persistent poor-quality services they were offering".

Years back, ART said irregular subscriber identification and SIM box fraud cost the country over FCFA18 billion annually, and that unscrupulous individuals were using mobile SIM cards to commit crimes.

A Prime Ministerial Order of 2015 stipulates that no individual should be allowed to own more than three SIM cards per telephone operator. The order, passed in a bid to combat fraud, also prohibits retailers of mobile telephony services from selling to and processing subscribers on the streets.