Meerut police have dismantled an illegal telephone exchange and online loan fraud operation, arresting three individuals and seizing a cache of equipment used to convert international calls and cheat people with fake loans.
Police in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut district have busted an illegal telephone exchange allegedly being used to cause revenue loss to the government and operate an online fake loan racket, officials said on Thursday.
Three members of the gang were arrested and a large quantity of SIM cards, SIM boxes, laptops, mobile phones, ATM cards and two cars were recovered from their possession, police said.
City Superintendent of Police Vinayak Gopal Bhosale said the action was carried out jointly by the Kotwali police, cyber cell and SWAT team on the basis of information received from the Department of Telecommunications.
He said the police raided a house in Azad Nagar Gola Kuan area under Kotwali police station limits and uncovered an illegal SIM box-based telephone exchange operating from the first floor of the building.
According to the police, the accused were using technical equipment to convert international VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calls into normal voice calls, thereby violating telecom regulations and causing substantial financial losses to the government.
Apart from this, the gang allegedly cheated people on the pretext of arranging online loans using forged documents, Bhosale said.
The police arrested Mohammad Sameer Mansoori (29), Nasir (30) and Prashant Pal (23) from the spot.
During investigation, it emerged that the alleged kingpin Mansoori had obtained two Aadhaar cards using different addresses, the police said.
The recovered items included 97 SIM cards, two SIM boxes, 10 mobile phones, two laptops, 18 ATM cards, 20 cheque books of different banks, material used for preparing forged documents, printers, scanners and two cars, the police said, adding that cash was also seized from the premises.
A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Information Technology Act, Telecommunications Act 2023, and the Indian Telegraph Act, and further legal proceedings are underway, the police added.