The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) is rolling out advanced scanning machines across all prisons in the country to detect and block smuggled mobile phones and SIM cards used by inmates for fraudulent activities.

The initiative, already piloted at Zomba Central Prison, aims to dismantle criminal networks operating from behind bars through illegal communications. 

MACRA Director General Daudi Suleiman revealed that the nationwide deployment forms part of a multi-pronged strategy to combat Malawi’s escalating digital fraud crisis.  

“Prisons have become hubs for mobile fraud, with inmates coordinating scams ranging from identity theft to financial cybercrime using smuggled devices,"Suleiman told this reporter in Lilongwe. “These scanners will act as a digital firewall, intercepting unauthorized signals in real time while providing forensic data to prosecute offenders."

The Malawi Prison Service has endorsed the technology, citing repeated seizures of contraband phones during routine searches. 

Department Public Relations Officer Steve Meke described the scanners as a “long-overdue solution" to a systemic security challenge.  

“We (Malawi Prison Services) will provide full support for the technological solution. It is importance for maintaining facility security.

A 2024 Prison Service report obtained by this publication showed that over 1,200 mobile devices were confiscated in Malawian correctional facilities last year alone.  

While applauding MACRA’s move, ICT Association of Malawi president Clarence Gama urged complementary measures.

“The scanning systems is a necessary response to increasing mobile fraud cases, it needed to be rolled out as soon as yesterday,” asserted Gama.

The initiative dovetails with MACRA’s pending biometric SIM registration drive, set to launch later this year.