The Sim card registration law, better known as Rica, has proven useful in helping police secure convictions with intercepted cellphone evidence, deputy justice minister Andries Nel said on Tuesday.

“Increasingly, law enforcement officials, both police and the prosecution, are commenting on the favourable effects of Rica legislation in prosecuting crimes, and particularly serious crimes,” Nel told a media briefing by the security cluster.

“In the past couple of weeks convictions in a number of cases have turned exactly on cellphone evidence, either in terms of the communication between individuals involved in crime, or determining the location of individuals who were involved in crime. I think it vindicates the usefulness of this legislation.”

The Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act, or Rica, became law in 2009.

The extended deadline for all cellphone users to register their Sim cards expired at the end of June. — Sapa