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Clandestine phone exchange unearthed in Puducherry

Staff Reporter

Monitoring cell seizes equipment worth Rs. 30 lakh

— Photo: T. Singaravelou

security risk: BSNL officials with the seized equipment used for diverting international calls, in Puducherry.

PUDUCHERRY: A clandestine telephone exchange, which was diverting international calls through broadband connectivity, bypassing legal telecom channels, was unearthed at a rented house at Anna Nagar, a residential colony in Puducherry, on Monday.

Officials from the Vigilance Telecom Monitoring Cell, Chennai, which detected the illegal operation with the help of Crime and Intelligence Cell of the Territorial police, raided the house and seized electronic equipment worth about Rs 30 lakh. An investigation into the illegal operation was centred on the person who took the house for rent. The suspect, Manish, had provided fake address, Senior Superintendent of Police (Crime and Intelligence) B. Srikanth told The Hindu.

It was found that a particular Internet protocol address had been misused for illegal voice usage, when the private Internet service provider submitted its mandatory monthly report to the Cell. Subsequently, the Cell got the information that some mobile phone connections of a private service provider were being misused for international call termination. The BSNL officials said the department had incurred a loss of about Rs 1.5 crore. The illegal operator was using an Access Server, GSM Gateway and Ethernet Equipments equipment for diverting the calls. The network had a capacity of handling 96 calls simultaneously.

Besides the revenue loss to the Government, such clandestine exchanges possess security threat, as the calls cannot be monitored, according to the BSNL officials.

Mr. Srikanth said the Intelligence Bureau has been alerted of the incident. A special team of the CID was working on the case. The suspect’s mobile number was traced and the calls from the mobile were being tracked, he said.

The police suspect that there could be a larger network and the suspect would have connections with a foreign syndicate, which operates illegal call centres.

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