One lakh SIM cards may have been sold: cops

Mumbai: The gang busted for allegedly running an illegal SIM card racket in Bhiwandi is estimated to have sold close to one lakh cards in the last six-eight months, Thane police crime branch officials said on Wednesday.

The police had, over a period of two weeks, arrested five accused, including two activation officers with a cellular service provider, in connection with the racket in which SIM cards were being activated using forged documents and sold to those who needed them but did not have requisite documents. The police had last week seized 11,345 activated SIM cards, 3,660 SIM cards that were yet to be activated, and thousands of forged documents prepared using an image editing software.

“The gang would buy SIM cards in thousands from the activation officers and give them a cut of their earnings after a batch was sold. Investigations indicate that the gang might have sold close to one lakh cards,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Parag Manere, Thane police crime branch. Inquiries are on with the company’s officials, while the accused are being interrogated. The police suspect that a large number of the SIM cards sold might have been used by criminals.