New Delhi, Aug 18, 2024, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, Aug 18: The Odisha Police claimed to have busted a SIM box racket operated from Bhubaneswar by Bangladeshi national, Asadur Zaman, who had sneaked into India in October, 2023 through Agartala.

SIM boxes are used to hide original phone numbers and are often employed for cybercrime, hate speech, terrorist acts, extortion, and other illegal activities, posing challenge for law enforcement agencies.

Zaman used to reroute international calls to Pakistan, China and West Asia, a senior officer said, adding that Raju Mandal, who used to run the show on behalf of Zaman from a leased property in Bhubaneswar, has been arrested.

Mandal hails from West Bengal and more than 1,000 SIM cards, mostly pre-activated, routers and other equipment have been seized from the house, the officer said.

Preliminary interrogation has revealed that the SIM boxes were used to reroute international calls to Pakistan, China, and the Middle East. Though Mandal was staying in West Bengal, he used to visit the house in Bhubaneswar to address any SIM issue and to perform maintenance and repairs.

Zaman, however, returned to Bangladesh in December 2023.

Agartala is the capital of Tripura, a state in northeast India, which is surrounded by Bangladesh on its north, south and west. The length of its international border is 856 km, accounting for 84 per cent of its total border.