Four candidates have been caught engaging in examination malpractice on day three of the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (B.E.C.E), after officials of the West African Examinations Council (W.A.E.C) uncovered separate cases of cheating during the Integrated Science paper.

The incidents were detected during a monitoring exercise by the head of the West African Examinations Council and her team at selected examination centres on Wednesday morning.

According to officials, the affected candidates include a set of twins and another pair of students found engaging in different forms of collusion during the examination.

“There were four students.

Two of them were twins, and they exchanged their answer booklets. And one was writing for the other,” an official explained.

The official further noted that in the second case, the candidates were found with question papers containing pre-written answers.

“And then the other pair, they have exchanged their question papers, and in their question papers they've written solutions to some of the questions in them,” the official added.

WAEC says preliminary findings indicate clear breaches of examination rules, and the matter will be subjected to further investigation.

The Council also indicated that if the candidates are found culpable, sanctions will follow.

“We will take it up and do further investigations. If they are found culpable, their subjects will be cancelled,” the official said, adding that the sanction would apply specifically to the Integrated Science paper.

The latest cases add to some 7 arrested earlier within the week and other growing concerns about examination malpractice during the 2026 BECE, which began earlier this week across 2,000-plus centres nationwide.