The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested Ashraf Ali, a resident of Jaunpur, for illegally routing unauthorized international calls, primarily from West Asian nations, through an illicit telephone exchange. This operation allowed the calls to appear as local calls in the Jaunpur district, effectively bypassing the international gateway.
Ashraf was found using internet-enabled SIM boxes to reroute international VoIP calls into regular voice calls. This process masked the original caller’s identity by substituting it with the SIM box number, making it difficult to trace the caller.
According to the ATS, this illegal activity not only complicates caller identification but also raises significant concerns about potential radicalization, hawala transactions, terror funding, and substantial revenue losses for the state.
Inspector General of Police, ATS, Nilabja Chaudhary, stated that during initial questioning, Ashraf revealed he lived in Mumbai from 1997 to 2012, where he met Jahangir from Bhiwandi. Jahangir introduced him to Mohammad Ali, a Saudi resident, who discussed the profitability of operating a SIM box business remotely. Following this, Ashraf procured the necessary SIM box equipment via courier and configured it using AnyDesk software.