SIM Box Racket: Mastermind of SIM box racket from Bangladesh: Police | Bhubaneswar News
Bhubaneswar: Odisha police Saturday said the mastermind of a SIM box racket, busted on Friday, is a Bangladesh native. Police will take Interpol’s help to arrest the man and arrest others linked to the racket. On Friday, police arrested his India agent, Raju Mandal, who is from West Bengal.
During interrogation, Mandal revealed that his boss is a Bangladesh national and he has set up SIM boxes at two more places, which are under scanner.Since calls from China, Pakistan and West Asian countries were diverted by the gang, police didn’t rule out terror link.
Scientific and technical aspects of SIM box racket are being probed and after its completion many more facts pertaining to the activities of Mandal, his boss and other people connected to it will come to the fore. “Also, National Investigation Agency’s (NIA’s) help will be sought to probe possible terror link. So far, we are not sure if the racket has links with terror outfits,” said twin cities police commissioner Sanjeeb Panda.
According to police, Mandal disclosed that a person helped him get accommodation in Bhubaneswar for installation of SIM boxes, avail broadband connections, procure fake SIM cards and run and operate SIM boxes without any hassle.
Police said Mandal disclosed that SIM boxes were meant for receipt of voice over internet protocol (VoIP), which helps make internet-based voice calls. International calls generated from foreign countries like Pakistan, China and West Asia were intercepted bypassing the international telecom gateways of India.
First it caused a huge loss of revenue to the telecommunications department as well as Indian tele-service providers. SIM boxes were connected to internet routers and data cable, police said.
Police said five SIM boxes (active), two reserved SIM boxes, 225 operational SIMs, 500 other SIMs, 500 SIM carriers, 58 unused SIMs, TP-link wireless routers, optical fibre cable, a wooden rack, three extension cords, a laptop and two mobile phones were found in the house raided on Friday. Besides, a modem, battery and inverter have also been seized. Police have sealed the house.
“Involvement in anti-national activity, cyber fraud, extortion, threat calls and other subversive activities can’t be ruled out,” Panda added. Police will appeal for Mandal’s remand.
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