Bengaluru : Police raid an illegal telephone exchange used for spying

Bengaluru – An illegal telephone exchange in Bengaluru was raided by the Anti-Terror Cell of Bengaluru Police and the Military Intelligence. The international calls used to be converted to local calls here. There was an attempt to hide the incoming international calls and to extract information related to the Indian Army. This information used to be provided to the foreign spies. Ibrahim Pullattti Bin Mohammed Kutty from Malappuram in Kerala and K.V. Gautham from Tamil Nadu have been arrested in this matter. Thirty-two sim boxes and 30 electronic devices have been seized from them.

CCB detect illegal SIMBOX racket..2 accused arrested..30 SIMBOX seized..in which at a time 960 illegally procured SIMS can be used..imp detection since this could b used for any illegal or subversive activities.. @CPBlr @BlrCityPolice pic.twitter.com/26AxQepAKq

— Sandeep Patil IPS (@ips_patil) June 9, 2021

What is SIM box technology

A SIM box can be used to route international phone calls as local calls. Each SIM box is fitted with hundreds of GSM SIM cards. This technology allows the box’s operator to not only bypass international rates charged by local mobile network operators but also poses a risk to national security. For example, if a call from Pakistan is routed using a SIM box, the number will appear as that of a caller from India.

A total of 32 SIM boxes were recovered from six locations in Bengaluru’s BTM Layout area during the raid on the illegal telephone exchange being run by the duo. As many as 960 fraudulently procured SIM cards were being used to power these SIM boxes.

To put things in perspective, a single SIM box can be used to route thousands of dubious international calls each day.