Odisha police conducted raids and seized five SIM boxes from Ranchi in connection with the SIM box racket that was previously uncovered in Cuttack.
A total of five SIM boxes and 222 operational SIM cards were seized from Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, and Ranchi in this case, according to a top police official.
Speaking to ANI, Bhubaneswar Police Commissioner Sanjeeb Panda said, “In the SIM box case, our team has returned from Ranchi after conducting the raid. The accused had rented a house and set up five SIM boxes. We found 222 operational SIM cards. Altogether, from Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, and Ranchi, we have seized 17 SIM boxes and 678 operational SIM cards so far. We have collected Call Detail Record (CDR) details for some SIMs, which we are currently analyzing.”
Panda further mentioned that Raju Mondal’s remand ended on August 22. Mondal had been previously arrested in this case and was in remand for five days. “We will apply for an additional seven-day remand as we need to verify more details for further investigation. The NIA and DoT teams have already interrogated Raju Mondal and reviewed our papers. They are also providing us with assistance,” the top police official added.
Panda also informed that they had discovered photographs of the main accused, Ashdur Jamman, who is a Bangladeshi national. “We have found photographs of the main accused, Ashdur Jamman. He is an entrepreneur and the founder of a software company in Dhaka. He was managing the SIM box racket from Dhaka,” the commissioner added.
Earlier, on Monday, August 19, Odisha Police uncovered a SIM box racket in Cuttack. This discovery followed raids in Cuttack, initiated based on information from Raju Mondal, who had been arrested the previous day.
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Panda said, “During the investigation, our team located the second SIM box in Cuttack, where we found five operational SIM boxes and a total of 236 SIMs in use. Raju Mondal had rented that house from December onwards and was paying Rs 8,000 in rent. Ashdur Jamman had also visited the location to set up the SIM boxes.”
“Generally, these SIM boxes are used to mask international calls as local calls. They are typically employed by crime syndicates for cybercrime, terrorism, money laundering, and drug trafficking. However, the exact nature of their use will only be determined after we analyze the technical details, including call records,” he added.
A special squad, under the supervision of DCP Bhubaneswar, discovered a SIM box racket operating in Bhubaneswar. One person from West Bengal, Raju Mondal, has been arrested. He had rented a house on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, from which five operational SIM boxes and two standby SIM boxes were seized. A total of 255 active SIMs were operating on those five SIM boxes.
Panda had previously explained that a Bangladeshi national had set up the racket and that Raju Mondal was responsible for its smooth operation. Mondal received payments through a Hawala channel at regular intervals.
From the initial interrogation of Raju Mondal, he stated that he was operating under the instruction of a Bangladeshi national who had come to Bhubaneswar around 7-8 months ago, rented the house, and set up the SIM boxes. After that, he returned to Bangladesh, but under his direction, Raju Mondal maintained the SIM boxes, power supply, internet connections, replacement of SIMs, and other related tasks. Mondal was paid through a Hawala channel at regular intervals, as informed by the Odisha Police. According to Mondal’s interrogation, these SIM boxes were used to divert calls from Pakistan, China, and Middle Eastern countries to India, disguising them as local calls.
(WITH INPUTS FROM ANI)
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