Jharkhand, Odisha Cops Jointly Bust New SIM Box Operation

 Bhubaneswar: After busting SIM box set rackets in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, the Odisha police on Tuesday detected another set-up in Ranchi. As per initial reports, the SIM box set-up was busted at Maulana Azad Colony following a raid jointly conducted with the Jharkhand police.

The fresh SIM box set up in Ranchi was seized based on the information shared by accused Raju Mandal who was earlier arrested by Odisha’s Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Commissionerate police.

The Odisha police has so far seized a total of 12 SIM boxes during the raid in both Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Apart from this, a total of 481 SIM cards, an extra 810 stand-by SIM cards were also seized from both places.

Senior police officials have sought assistance from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Interpol as the mastermind and the handler of the accused Raju Mandal is said to be Asadur Jaman who hails from Bangladesh.

On Tuesday, the special team raided a house in Ranchi and seized a SIM box with five active devices and multiple SIM cards. The house owner is being interrogated in connection with the incident. Sources said that the mastermind from Bangladesh had also visited the place in Ranchi like he did in Bhubaneswar.

The terror link and other aspects, including cyber fraud, will be probed, police said.

After the seizure of SIM box devices, a detailed technical examination will be conducted in this regard. Sources said that a team of state police will soon conduct a similar raid in another state where a SIM box has been set up.