Bhubaneswar, Aug 23: Odisha police conducted raids and seized five SIM boxes from Ranchi in connection with the SIM box racket earlier busted in Cuttack.

A total of 5 SIM boxes and 222 operational SIM cards were sized from Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Ranchi in this case, said a top police official.

Speaking to ANI, Bhubaneswar Police Commissioner Sanjeeb Panda said, "In the SIM box case, our team has returned from Ranchi after conducting the raid. The accused had taken a house on rent and he had set up 5 SIM boxes, 222 SIM cards were operational. Altogether, from Bhubaneswar Cuttack and Ranchi, we have seized 17 SIM boxes and 678 operational SIM cards so far. We have collected CDR (Call Detail Record) details of some SIMs and we are analysing them."

He further said Raju Mondal's remand ended on August 22, who was earlier arrested in this case and sent into remand for five days.

"The remand of Raju Mondal was ended on August 22. We will apply for his remand for seven more days as we have have to verify more things for further investigation in this case. The NIA and DoT team have already interrogated Raju Mondal. They have seen all our papers. They are also giving us all type of assistance ," the top police official added.

Panda also informed that they have found photographs of the main accused Ashdur Jamman, who is a Bangladeshi national.
"We have found the photographs of main accused Ashdur Jamman. He is an entrepreneur. He is the founder of a software company in Dhaka. He was controlling SIM box racket from Dhaka" the commissioner added.

Earlier on Monday, August 19, Odisha Police unearthed a SIM box racket in Cuttack.

The discovery came after raids in Cuttack, which were prompted by information from Raju Mandal, who was arrested the previous day.

Panda said, "During the investigation, our police team located the second SIM box in Cuttack, where we found five operational SIM boxes and a total of 236 SIMs in use. Raju Mandal had rented that house from December onwards and was paying Rs 8,000 in rent. Ashdur Jamman had also visited the location to set up the SIM boxes."

"Generally, these SIM boxes are used to mask international calls as local calls. They are typically used by crime syndicates for cybercrime, terrorism, money laundering, and drug trading. However, the exact nature of their use will only be known after we analyze the technical details, including call records," he added.

A special squad, under the supervision of DCP Bhubaneswar, found a SIM box racket operating in Bhubaneswar. One person from West Bengal, Raju Mondal, has been arrested. He had rented a house on the periphery of Bhubaneswar, and from that house, we seized five operational SIM boxes and two standby SIM boxes. 255 active SIMs were operating on those five SIM boxes.

Panda had earlier explained that a Bangladeshi national had set up the racket and Raju Mondal was responsible for its smooth functioning. He added that Mondal received payments through a Hawala channel at regular intervals.

From the initial interrogation of Raju Mondal, he stated that he was operating under the instruction of a Bangladeshi national. The Bangladeshi national had come to Bhubaneswar around 7-8 months ago, rented the house, and set up the SIM boxes there. After that, he returned to Bangladesh, but under his instruction, Raju Mondal maintained the SIM boxes, power supply, internet connections, replacement of SIMs, and other related tasks. He was being paid through a Hawala channel at regular intervals, the Odisha Police informed earlier.

According to Raju Mondal's interrogation, these SIM boxes were used to divert calls from Pakistan, China, and Middle Eastern countries to India, disguised as local calls.

(ANI)

Read Odisha News

Argus English | argus english | Odisha Latest News, Breaking News, Trending News, Live TV