Officials of the Telecom Enforcement here on Wednesday busted an illegal telephone exchange providing international calling facility, which operated from a building near the Ernakulam North Railway Station.
Officials said the facility, operated under the name ‘Concord Business Solutions’, was owned by one Muhammad Shihad, a native of Pattambi. The accused was traced to his residence and taken into custody with the assistance of the local police.
A raid by the enforcement sleuths revealed that the exchange re-routed international calls to India via Internet using 120 land phone connections.
The exchange, which had been functioning for nearly two months, received international calls through the satellite gateway and pushed them into the local network using the Internet, disguising them as local calls.
“The facility operated using the Primary Rate Interface System and used voice over Internet telephony technology, bypassed the ISD network to deliver international calls.
The operator had plans to expand the business, which had already become a gateway of international calls by itself, to at least 500 connections,” said V. Raghunandan, Deputy Director General, Telecom Enforcement and Resource and Monitoring Cell.
Officials stumbled upon the illegal exchange while investigating a complaint in this regard. “During investigation, we could figure out the local number and traced the connection to one Shine Star Marketing Agency,” the official added.
Revenue loss
According to him, the exchange was causing revenue loss to the government and was also a national security threat, as VoIP calls can be easily masked and used for illegal activities. When ISD calls go through illegal channels, the State stands to loose in the revenue sharing process. Investigations are on to trace if the racket had any links with operators of a similar facility at Kadavanthra, which was busted recently.
Cases will be initiated against the operator under Sections 4 and 20 of the Telegraph Act 1885, which states that only licensed operators can provide local and international services.
He will be also booked under IPC 120 (b) of for conspiring with international contacts and sourcing sophisticated equipment for routing calls illegally and IPC 420 for cheating.
