Vigilance officers of MTNL and VSNL along with officers of Unit XI Detection Squad of Crime Branch arrested one Mohammed Abdul Salam for running an illegal telephone exchange.

"Surprisingly, the accused was running his exchange next to MTNL's exchange in MIDC, Andheri," says assistant police inspector Prafull Phadke.

The exchange was allegedly being run in the gala of an industrial estate.

According to crime branch officials, the alleged director of CIAPPI telecommunication India Pvt Ltd rented a gala and told the owner that he was going to run a medical transcription business.

"He bought 20 MTNL landlines and 24 Airtel SIM cards and began running the illegal exchange where he would receive overseas calls," informs Phadke.

Explains inspector S Kolekar, "The accused was cheating the Government of India by evading the licensing authority and paying their charges. If a normal call to America costs Rs 24 per minute, they were making it at Rs 7 per minute.

"The calls were not traceable, this made the exchange a threat to the internal and external security of the country. Also, the calls could not be registered as they would not arrive through normal channels to the exchange."

The police raided the place and found electronic equipment like computers and cellular boxes worth Rs two lakhs. "The loss of revenue to the government runs into crores," says Kolekar.

While 23-year-old Salam is under arrest, the directors of the exchangeAmol Mehta, Richard Siyari, Andriya Syari, Rooplal Muiji and their associates Dharmesh Shah and Mahesh Sawantare still at large.

"The whereabouts of these people are being traced," says Phadke, who was one of the crime branch team who arrested the accused.

lina@mid-day.com