SIM Box Racket In Odisha: Hawala Link Used For Transfer Of Funds From Bangladesh To Bhubaneswar, Say Police

Bhubaneswar: A Hawala link has been discovered through which money was sent to Bhubaneswar from Bangladesh to facilitate operations of the SIM box racket which was busted in Odisha capital last week, DCP Prateek Singh said on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters, Singh said that the Twin City police will seek help from technical and scientific agencies to dig deeper into the case in course of the investigation.

After Bhubaneswar, the police busted a SIM box in Rajendra Nagar area under Madhupatna police limits in Cuttack today, based on the inputs provided by accused Raju Mandal.

Meanwhile, Bhubaneswar UPD has secured a five-day remand of Raju Mandal, a key member of the SIM box racket. Singh said that Laxmi Sagar police which arrested Mandal had moved the court praying for 14-day remand of the accused.

“We have been granted 5-day remand during which we will try to know about other locations where he has planted SIM boxes secretly,” said Singh.

According to the police, the SIM box racket was operated from Bhubaneswar by a Bangladeshi to reroute international calls to Pakistan, China and West Asia.

Raju Mandal, who hails from West Bengal, has been arrested and over 1,000 SIM cards mostly pre-activated in the neighbouring state, routers and other equipment have been seized from a house in the Odisha capital.

SIM boxes are used to hide original phone numbers and are often employed for cybercrime, hate speech, terrorist acts, extortion, and other illegal activities, posing challenges for law enforcement agencies.

Earlier Police Commissioner Sanjeeb Panda had said that the police are contemplating taking help from any national investigating agency and also Interpol as the prime accused in the case is a Bangladesh national.