Inter-state pre-activated SIM card racket busted by Odisha police; 6 arrested

According to him, the arrest was made in response to a complaint made on Monday by the Ministry of Communications's Department of Tele Communications.
iStock-921346058

Representational image

Photo : iStock
Mayurbhanj: The crime division of the Odisha Police busted a multi-state pre-activated SIM card ring and apprehended six suspects, including the leader of the group, in the Khunta area of the Mayurbhanj district.
Aju Patra, Tapan Kumar Patra, Ajay Kumar Patra, Nigam Patra, Sudhansu Das, and mastermind Vishal Khandelwal were the accused, Crime Branch IG Amitendra Nath Sinha said while speaking to media persons, news agency IANS reported.
According to him, the arrest was made in response to a complaint made on Monday by the Ministry of Communications's Department of Tele Communications.
Soon after receiving the complaint, the Odisha crime branch put together a special team that, despite heavy rain, busted the ring while conducting raids in a remote part of the Mayurbhanj district, IANS reported.
According to Sinha, the police seized two SIM card boxes (machine-based numbers) that were being used to dupe people across the country. Additionally, they have confiscated seven laptops, about 20 mobile phones, bank passbooks, Jio routers, and other items, along with more than 2,500 SIM cards from the Airtel, Jio, Vodafone, and BSNL telecom companies.
According to him, the seized SIM cards included 1,049 from Airtel, 1,231 from Jio, 158 from Vodafone, and 134 from BSNL.
The IG added that the criminals were running their networks in the Khunta forest area and defrauding people by sending them fake SIM card blocks and KYC suspension messages. He further claimed that the police would detain them and question them later.
End of Article