Mumbai: ATS busts illegal call exchange and nabs HSC dropout

The Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad ATS on Saturday arrested seven people for running an illegal telephone exchange that had not just caused multicrore losses to the Indian exchequer but also posed a massive security threat The mastermind was identified as Nazim Khan 27 and was arrested for the second time in two years for the same crime After his release from jail in the first case he apparently restarted his illegal telephone exchangeKhan an HSC dropout began operating a cable network business in Govandi and Mankhurd area around 2017 and eventually began providing internet services too Sources from ATS said that Khan being a computer wizard wanted to make fast money out of his technical knowledge and thus researched the internet to find ways of doing so On the web he came across certain phonebased communication systems which he studied thoroughly and jumped into this businessHe then visited China where he received training of running a discrete telephone exchange independently He made his next trip to the Gulf countries where he met locals who were into similar businesses and tiedup with them Khan further undertook training to set up his telephone exchange with the help of a Bangladeshbased software company and created his own calling software He made an application named ITL available on play store for download He had even applied for an ISP internet service provider licence and was on the verge of getting it when he got arrested in 2017 in a joint operation conducted by the ATS and Mumbai crime branch In around four to five months of operating his business in 2017 he had caused a loss of R50 crore to the Indian governmentATS caught 7 accused from various places in the city and seized some equipment tooKhan had rented nine houses to run both his legal and illegal businesses In the recent case Khan and six others were arrested at five different locations in Mumbai ATS DCP Vinay Rathod said that seven of his teams were dispatched at these five locations mdash Shivaji Nagar Govandi Masjid Dongri Panvel and Kalyan The accused used to route international Voic over Internet Protocol VoIP calls especially from Gulf countries through local mobile numbers Rathod said After Khans release too he had caused a loss of R375 crore to the government in a matter of four to five months and we are investigating into this DCP Rathod addedAlso ReadMan arrested for supplying arms to Khalistani supportersNew modus operandiThis time however Khan had used another modus operandi using an advanced technique called the PRI line A PRI Primary Rate Interface line can receive or send 30 calls simultaneously This is an endtoend digital circuit It is a form of ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network line which is a telecommunication standard that enables traditional phone lines to carry voice data and video traffic among others DCP Rathod explained These kind of lines go untracked by government agencies thus posing a security threatAlso ReadPune Youth detained for terror links from ChakanAccording to sources antisocial elements across the world including IS separatists and other terror groups use such telephone exchanges to avoid being tracked Many callers across the world too use these service to make calls to India at cheaper rates especially from the Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries Some intelligence input from Jammu and Kashmir had given the ATS this lead after which the teams were formed to nab the accusedHow it workedSince international calling rates are expensive people living in UAE prefer installing an application mdash created by the accused and buy a calling card to activate this application to make calls to India The calling card needs to be recharged to make international calls at cheaper rates mdash 20 paiseminute An officer privy to the investigation revealed that one needs a balance amount on the calling card to be able to make calls using thisThe accused had generated a special code for every country In a bid to make calls from UAE to India they would dial followed by the receivers number which gets diverted through VOIP to a server in UAE which further connects to Indias server In Mumbai the accused had installed SIMBOX where the calls would be transferred from Indias server SIMBOX is a tool which houses 32 SIM cards having different Indian numbers The receiver in India would get a ring from one of these 32 numbers said the officer9No of houses accused had rented to run businessesRs 37crLoss to exchequer since the accused came out on bailAlso ReadOne arrested in Maharashtra for alleged terror linksCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates