Kerala   

Illegal VoIP service on the rise

The arrest of a prime suspect, P.P. Abdul Nazar, 41, involved in diverting international calls through illegal Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service this week reveals that the unauthorised transmission of voice through the internet is only the tip of an iceberg.

Investigations by the Kozhikode Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) reveal that Nazar operated from his apartment at Nadakkavu, a perfume shop on Mavoor Road and buildings at Valiyangadi and on Link Road in the city.

He was charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Indian Telegraph Act and the Indian Wireless Telegraphic Act. The Crime Branch had earlier nabbed six others involved in the case. Three of his associates, including his brother P.P. Abdul Gafoor, are absconding.

Officials said that Nazar created a wide network of agents to canvass customers and beneficiaries to route international calls as local calls. He set up his illegal telephone exchange using sophisticated US instruments networked to an agency in Singapore to transmit calls received from foreign countries, mainly Gulf nations, to local numbers in the State

Crime Branch Superintendent of Police T.V. Kamalakshan said that Nazar utilised the service of private telephone operators and the internet to route international calls.

As per rules, all international calls should be routed through the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Several terrorist outfits might have used the illegal service since the calls remained undetected by the telecom authorities.

Many of the clients of Nazar were Non-Resident Indians in the Gulf. He used to charge Rs.15 to Rs.17 for a call per minute, which would otherwise come to Rs.32.

The illegal operations of Nazar resulted in the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) suffering a loss of over Rs.2.25 crore, said B. Ashokan, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Crime Branch. According to statistics released by the Union Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, illegal routing of international calls had caused a loss of more than Rs.145 crore to the government in three years. As many as 26 illegal exchanges were detected in the country in 2007-08 and the total loss to DOT was Rs.18.25 crore in the financial year. Recently, the Ministry set up 34 Vigilance Telecom Monitoring (VTM) cells under DOT at various Licence Telecom Service Areas and Major Telecom Districts of the country. These cells will check illegal routing of international calls. The VTM cells would also act as an interface between security agencies and licensed service providers, officials said.

DOT would also coordinate the Inter Ministerial Group set up to look into the enhanced role of VTM Cells and recommend activities to be carried out by the cells concerning security aspects.

The government was also planning to set up a centre for communication security research and monitoring. This centre would analyse and detect all Call Data Records (CDRs) for illegal routing of calls and grey market telecom set up, they said.

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