Illegal telephone exchanges busted in Thane, one arrested

The Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra today claimed to have busted two illegal telephone exchanges operating in neighbouring Thane, and arrested a man.

Police were looking for two more persons in the case, an ATS official said, adding that the accused's possible links with terrorist organisations too were being probed.

As per the preliminary investigation by the Department of Telecommunications (DOT), these exchanges caused a loss of about Rs 58 crore to the government, said the official.

After getting a tip-off, ATS sleuths and officials of the prosecution branch of the DOT carried out a raid in Azadnagar area of Thane yesterday, he said.

They found that a 28-year-old man -- an Arabic teacher hailing from Azamgarh of Uttar Pradesh -- and his younger brother had set up the illegal exchange, he said.

The ATS official did not reveal the arrested man's name.

The 'exchange' routed international Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VOIP) calls to local mobile numbers through an "illegal international gateway". This caused a revenue loss to the DOT, he said.

Police recovered 139 SIM cards, a laptop, five SIM box-machines for call transforming and three routers from his residence, the officer said.

Following his interrogation, ATS team raided another house in nearby Mumbra, where five illegal international gateways, SIM boxes, 95 SIM cards, three routers and a laptop were seized, the officer said.

The ATS registered a case with its Kala Chowki unit in Mumbai under the Indian Telegraph Act, Indian Wireless and Telegraph Act and IPC Sections 420 (cheating), the ATS official said, adding that further probe was on.