Expats warned against violating SIM card rules

A committee composed of the Office of the Emir of Madinah, the police, the immigration department and the municipal mayoralty of Madinah has brought charges against expatriates who are selling prepaid phone cards with their iqama (residency permits) numbers inside grocery stores.
"The Committee arrested the expatriates for violating The Communication and Information Technology Commission's (CITC) regulation for overseeing the sale and activation of pre-paid SIM cards by selling prepaid phone cards with their residency ID numbers to the Azizia Police Station in order to complete the investigation," Colonel Fahd Amer Ghannam, the media spokesman for the Police of Madinah, told Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper.
He emphasized that the violations required deportation, even though those arrested have valid residency and work permits, because the violations pose a threat to the country and its citizens.
He called on citizens and residents in the Kingdom to cooperate and make concerted efforts with security forces to report about persons who commit such violations.
Reports published by Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper indicate that, in spite of the CITC’s restrictions, expats succeed in creating illegal ways to obtain prepaid SIM cards.
The black market in pre-paid mobile SIM cards has exploded within peddlers and recruitments companies as soon as the announcement of the new regulation even before its implementation.
The CITC has announced new regulations that state, "No pre-paid SIM cards will be charged, recharged, or balances transferred, unless the subscriber enters his or her identity number."