Lucknow: The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday busted an illegal telephone exchange, which through its operation, was posing a threat to the national security and also causing revenue loss to the exchequer, with the arrest of six members of the gang from the districts of Azamgarh and Mirzapur.
The accused in violation of the rules issued by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) converted international internet-based calls into voice calls through SIM boxes. As per rules of TRAI, international calls landing in India must be done on VoIP only, ATS officers said.
A senior ATS official said that UP ATS received information from Varanasi, Prayagraj, Azamgarh, and MIrzapur that an international gateway was bypassed as calls coming from foreign countries (mainly Middle-East) were diverted to this illegal telephone exchange. The calls were converted into local calls, and a call centre was in operation, he said.
On Monday, a team arrested Nadeem Ahmad, Diwan Khan, Asif, Shamim, Kaleem and Farooq. All the accused were in late 30s and had gone to prison in connecThe ATS recovered a huge quantity of electronics and communication equipment.
The ATS said it has been getting information about illegal exchanges converting international calls into local calls and bypassing international gateways.
ATS sources added that the accused were using software applications known as ‘Putty’ and ‘Tftpd64’ for connecting calls. An operation has been launched to nab other accused members of the gang.
