Odisha SIM box racket has links in Jharkhand; more shocking details emerge

A couple of days after the Commissionerate Police busted two SIM box rackets in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, Twin City Police Commissioner Sanjeeb Panda made some startling revelations. At a presser here on Monday, Panda revealed that the SIM box rackets have links in Jharkhand too.

While two have been busted in Odisha, the third racket is reportedly underway in the neighbouring state. A team of the Commissionerate Police will visit Jharkhand anytime soon and intensify raids there, Panda told media persons.

“Till now, we have seized a total of 12 SIM boxes during the raid in both Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Our team has seized a total of 481 SIM cards from both places. We have also seized extra 810 stand-by SIM cards kept by the accused duo. Raid is also on in all the hotels that the main accused Asadur Jaman stayed in during his visit to Odisha,” informed Panda.

“The equipment were used to make international and national calls without the receiver getting scope to know the source of the call. The devices were also used to operate several crimes including terrorist activities,” he added.

“With the help of Asadur, the arrested accused Raju Mandal, hailing from West Bengal, was operating the SIM boxes from rented houses in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. His work was to ensure that the UPS, internet, power and other services function properly,” he added.

As per reports, Mandal used to take goods from Odisha to Kolkata and then sell it in Bangladesh. It is there he was befriended by Asadur who gave him the SIM box idea. The SIM boxes were used to bypass international calls to Pakistan, China and the Middle East.

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Talking about the raid in Cuttack, Panda informed, “With the help of Madhupatna police, our team had conducted a raid at a residential house ‘Brundaban Bhawan’ and unearthed the SIM box operation. At least 5 active SIM boxes using at least 200 SIM cards were recovered from the house. We have also seized 310 extra SIMs with router and modem.”