Illegal phone exchange busted in joint ops by B’luru ATC, MI

Bengaluru: In a joint operation, the Anti-Terror Cell of Bengaluru Police and Military Intelligence have arrested two men who ran an illegal phone exchange, converting international calls to local calls, causing huge revenue loss and posing a threat to national security, police said.

Thirty-two SIM box devices, which can use 960 SIM cards at a time, were seized from them, they said.

Ibrahim Pullatti (36), hailing from Malappuram in Kerala and Gautam B Vishwanathan (27) from Tirupur in Tamil Nadu, had placed the 32 devices at six areas of the city to carry out their illegal activities, police said in a statement.

“Their activities not only caused revenue loss to the government but also posed a serious security threat to the nation,” the statement said.

It did not specify when the duo was arrested.

Police have not ruled out the possibility of the involvement of many others in the racket and have begun a probe.

Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant announced a reward of Rs 30,000 to the team which nabbed the two men.