Cops bust fake call centre selling sex drugs in Andheri

The image has been used for representational purposes only

The Mumbai Crime branch busted a call centre racket in Andheri, where sexual performance drugs were being sold illegally to Americans. According to a report in The Times of India, the police are trying to find out if the drugs were being delivered to the targeted clientele or if the entire operation was fraudulent.

The owner of the call centre, Mudassar Haroon Makandar, and his accomplice Ashle Glen D'Souza have been arrested while nearly two dozen employees have been detained. The computers, mobile phones and data cards containing the list of American clients and US contacts have been seized.

The accused have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under relevant sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

The crime branch unit got a tip-off and raided the call centre. Inspector Sunil Mane who led the team said, "When we barged in, the centre's employees were busy answering calls to US nationals in American accents. They had nicknames like James, John, and Harry. They were selling sex enhancement products."

Mane said the accused had trained their employees to speak fluently to US nationals and the staff read out from prepared scripts. The accused were receiving the payment in dollars which was coming into their accounts directly.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also, download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates