The police on Monday busted four illegal telephone exchanges allegedly operating in Mumbra, where overseas calls were being routed through SIM boxes to Indian phones.
According to police officials, a police sub-inspector received information about the rackets, and superior officers were alerted. Simultaneous raids were conducted at four locations in the Kausa area in Mumbra, leading to three arrests.
Equipment seized
Those arrested are Shehzad Shiekh (35), Shakeel Sheikh (40) and Halim Khan (37), while a fourth person, Wasimullah Sheikh, is still wanted. The police said that all four were running separate SIM box rackets in rented flats in Kausa. The police have seized 19 SIM boxes, 37 WiFi routers, 291 SIM cards, laptop computers and other equipment.
“The rackets were operational for at least the last one year, and inquiries till now suggest that calls from countries in the Middle East were being routed to local numbers. The accused were using an application called Hello Gulf, which is not permitted under Indian telecom laws.
The app generates user IDs and passwords, which are used to connect calls through the SIM boxes,” Additional Commissioner of Police Madhukar Pandey, Thane Police, said.
Mr. Pandey added that as the calls routed through SIM boxes are untraceable, they pose a huge risk to national security.
Revenue losses
“Such rackets also cause huge revenue losses to cellular service providers and the national exchequer. The losses caused are still being calculated with assistance from the Department of Telecommunications. Inquiries are also under way to find out if the rackets provided assistance to any criminal activities, including possible underworld connections,” Mr. Pandey said.
Illegal arms
The police also recovered a pistol and five live rounds of ammunition from Mr. Shehzad after he confessed to possession of illegal arms during his interrogation. The police have also charged him under the Arms Act.
