At least ten army imposters were taken into custody with an illegal call racket that got busted in Lucknow today.
The accused were using illegal sim cards to call Jammu and Kashmir Millitary base to retrieve confidential information. One of the suspects happens to be an IIT JEE instructor who played a pivotal part in supplying sim cards abroad from where the calls were made.
Anti Terrorism Squad UP Police chief Aseem Arun , conducted a press conference at ATS Headquarters in Gomti Nagar Lucknow and said,
"We have caught hold of a group, which is involved in a foreign illegal call racquet. Jammu and Kashmir Millitary unit has informed us that army has been getting calls, wherein they are trying to receive confidential information from the military, pretending to be from Military"
He added, "With help of Term Sale we have found out of a scam in which calls were being made from a Sim Box device. Jammu and Kashmir supposedly got a call from Hardoi, but that actually happened to be a call from abroad."
In the raids that took place yesterday, about 10 accused were taken in custody from Lakau, Hardoi and Sitapur. From Mehrauli, a FIT JEE instructor Gulshan is arrested who is apparently seen as the kingpin of the scam, he provided Sim box, and internet.
Gulshan is a graduate and a teacher in FIT JEE.
"They had rented a room where they conducted this activity with sim boxes, Two laptops and mobile WiFi.", he added
The scam apparently involves multiple boys from well to do homes as well.
The ATI Chief added,"Calls operate from countries like Dubai, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Investigations are still on, we can't place the accusation on ISI yet"
"One can't call on landlines and mobiles from Internet, Government has incurred great loss in this scam as well. One can imagine a parallel telephone connection in this scenario", he said.
ATS has gained a lot of assistance from Term in the matter, he said.
Ashok Rawat, Director of Term said, "we look into the licenses of all radiations in Lucknow and eastern regions. In this case what happened was that we were getting complaints, that such set ups are functioning in Lucknow and Seetapur. A team of 14 people was assigned, to look into the matter, I was also part of the team. When J&K received such a call, and the matter was brought in front of us, then we took notice"
He added, " We were notified in November-December last year. It was tough to trace the call from mobile. These calls are very cheap. Each country's rate differs from another."
Aseem Arun said," Jammu and Kashmir Military intelligence brought it to our notice. Till now we have been able to identify only the IIT JEE instructor who has the illegal license. They connect ISP and calls in our country on the Internet cloud and install sims with different plans, so that whenever the number flashes it seems as if the call is coming from India. We are trying to catch hold of them using the system.
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