An American, a Nigerian national and a Sierra Leonean were on Friday arrested by NATCOM Spectrum monitoring vehicle after they were caught operating an illegally installed telecommunication at the Kimbima hotel in Freetown.
The arrest came as a result of the determination of the National Telecommunication to clamp down on illegal Telecommunication operators in the country by using the newly purchased spectrum monitoring vehicle called ‘Ariogbo’ to detect signals of illegal operators in the country.
Commenting on how the three men were discovered the Public Affairs Manager of NATCOM, Abdul Kuyateh told Awoko that an unregistered telecommunication signal was detected by the Spectrum Monitoring vehicle and the signal was traced by their vehicle until it was finally discovered at Kimbima hotel in Aberdeen.
Upon arrival at the Kimbima hotel they discovered an unregistered installation of telecommunication equipment at the hotel. As they went further to scrutinize the installation it was also discovered that the operators have been using the installation to make both national and international calls illegally.
The three men were arrested together with an EI GSM Channel Bank machine which is communication equipment that is used to accept incoming calls and also make calls to any destination for a cheaper cost. They are currently under serious police investigation.
The Public Affairs Manager described the arrest as the biggest ever arrest made by NATCOM in its persistent search for illegal operators in the country with the help of the well sophisticated Spectrum Monitoring vehicle.
Some members of the public this press spoke to about the incident received the news with joy and commended the Chairman of NATCOM, Seray Timbo and his management for making such a laudable move to clamp down and weed out illegal operators in the telecommunication industry.
By William Freeman