Illegal telephone exchange busted in Thane; one arrested

Police have busted an illegal telephone exchange in the Mira Road area here in Maharashtra and arrested one person, an official said on Thursday.

The telephone exchange was operating illegally from a flat, he said.

Senior inspector Aviraj Kurhade of the Crime Unit–I said the Gujarat ATS had tipped off the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police about the illegal telephone exchange operating from a residential locality.

Based on the information, a team of the Crime Branch raided the residential premises on Wednesday and nabbed a person named Sajjad Sayyed, who was allegedly running the unauthorised telephone exchange, he said.

The exchange was being used by people residing abroad to get in contact with their friends and relatives in India, Kurhade said.

In the exchange, the BSNL getway was being bypassed, causing revenue losses to the central government, he said.

DCP (Crime) Mahesh Patil said during the raid, police officials seized three SIM boxes, 125 SIM cards, antenna, router, mini laptop, LAN-port switches and cables, among other digital items, from the flat.

The total value of the seized accessories was Rs 3,42,500, he said.

An offence under relevant sections of the Indian Telegraph Act, Indian Wireless Telegraph Act and IPC was registered at the Naya Nagar police station.

Further probe was underway, the police added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)