Bhubaneswar: The Commissionerate Police have taken accused Raju Mandal, who was arrested in connection with a SIM box case from Bhubaneswar, on a five-day remand.
Acting on the information provided by Raju Mandal during interrogation, police raided a rented flat in the Rajendranagar area under the Madhupatna police limits on Sunday and recovered five more SIM boxes.
Police will now investigate Raju Mandal’s terror link and make further inquiries about the mastermind and Bangladeshi citizen Ashaddur Zaman.
Bhubaneswar DCP Prateek Singh informed that the police will take the help of NIA and Interpol whenever necessary. The police are trying to ascertain the members of this syndicate, the countries where they operate and how much money has been transacted.
“The SIM Box racket involved in Hawala trade,” Singh said.
Earlier, Odisha Police claimed to have busted a SIM box racket operated from Bhubaneswar by a Bangladeshi to reroute international calls to Pakistan, China and West Asia, a senior officer said.
Raju Mandal, who hails from West Bengal, has been arrested and over 1,000 SIM cards mostly pre-activated in the neighbouring state, routers and other equipment have been seized from a house in the Odisha capital.
“Mandal used to run the show on behalf of a Bangladesh national identified as Asadur Jaman from a leased property in Bhubaneswar, ensuring the functionality of UPS, internet and other services,” Commissioner of Police of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Commissionerate, Sanjeeb Panda said on Saturday.
“Preliminary interrogation of Mandal revealed that the SIM boxes were used to reroute international calls to Pakistan, China, and the Middle East. Though Mandal was staying in West Bengal, he used to visit the house in Bhubaneswar to address any SIM issue and to perform maintenance and repairs,” he said.
