Niger has cut off about a third of the mobile phones, with the aim of cutting down the stem of crime which is related to unregistered SIM cards.

The four mobile networks had approximately 5.4 million mobile phone lines; of which one third-1.7 million were unregistered lines.

This comes after a declaration that was made last year that the user had to register their SIM Cards; all the unregistered cards were cut off at the weekend.

Almoustapha Boubacar, director-general of the regulator, said that the unregistered SIM cards will no longer be in use and banned the sale of pre-activated SIM cards. He added that identification documents should be produced before switching on any SIM card.

The Niger , the poorest country’s porous borders of the Sahel, is regularly infiltrated by armed groups from Mali and Nigeria.

After the kidnapping of two French in 2011 in Niamey – finally killed during a rescue operation by French forces near the Mali – investigators had found chips and mobile phones for tracing a path from Niger-Mali by Nigeria, according to a police source.

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