BHUBANESWAR: In a major crackdown against cyber crime in the city, the Commissionerate Police on Monday seized 12 SIM boxes, reportedly brought from China, during raid at a boys’ hostel in Chandrasekharpur area. Two Kerala natives were arrested in this connection.
The accused were identified as 27-year-old Ummar M and Siyahul Haq (28). While Ummar is a civil engineering dropout, Siyahul has completed 12th.
DCP Jagmohan Meena said the special squad comprising Cyber Crime police and officials of the department of Telecommunication (DoT) carried out the raid basing on an intel that SIM boxes were being used in the area to facilitate cyber crime activities.
Hundreds of SIM cards, routers, a laptop and other incriminating materials were recovered from the possession of the accused during the raid, he said.
Sharing more details, police said both the accused had moved to Bhubaneswar from Kerala four months back and were illegally operating the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) operation platform from their rented house with the help of VOS 3000 app, developed by a Chinese firm.
The accused were using the SIM boxes and platform with the help of a laptop to convert international calls originating from Middle Eastern and other countries into local calls to make them appear domestic and dupe unsuspecting persons.
Preliminary investigation revealed the accused collected the SIM boxes from China and the software from Bangladesh. They were also sourcing hundreds of pre-activated SIM cards from Andhra Pradesh and Assam to use them for different cyber crimes.
Special squad ACP Himansu Bhusan Swain said around 100 to 150 SIMs were being used every month and the control of the platform was with their Chinese mastermind who paid them about USD 1 lakh to USD 1.5 lakh each every month. “Further investigation is in progress to trace the operation network of the accused and ascertain if others are involved,” he added.
In 2024, the Commissionerate Police had recovered more than half a dozen SIM boxes after conducting a raid in Laxmi Sagar area of the city. One person had been arrested in this connection.