Sim box, 1,135 sim cards seized from Kerala duo

CHENNAI: Two Kerala men living in apartment complexes in Chennai outskirts were arrested by the Tambaram City Police on Tuesday for using simbox to fraudulently divert international calls to cell phones through internet.

Police seized more than 1,135 sim cards of a private telecom company.

The arrested persons were identified as Fahad Mohammed (25) and Sahal Sanavula (25), natives of Malappuram in Kerala. They were staying at highrise apartments in Pallavaram and Sithalapakkam respectively.

They were part of a gang that had rented a flat in a premier apartment complex along GST road in Pallavaram, where they had installed SIM Boxes used to fraudulently divert international calls to cell phones through internet.

Pallavaram police had received a complaint from the nodal officer of Bharthi Airtel after which a police team conducted searches at the apartment in Pallavaram and found the SIM boxes being used there. Investigations revealed that the arrested persons were paid Rs 20,000 per month and are contacted only through phone and messages and have less knowledge about how the network is operated.

A SIM box routes international calls back into the network as local calls, using hundreds of low-cost or even unpaid SIM cards, which are often obtained with forged identities, according to reports, thereby benefiting from exploiting the difference between local and international charges by paying just local rates to cell carriers after billing international rates from the source. The caller pays the high call rates, but the local telecom operator does not get the revenue.

The arrested persons were produced before a magistrate and remanded in custody. Further investigations are underway to identify others involved.