Mysore/Mysuru: The City Crime Branch (CCB) Police have arrested a man for routing international voice calls made on Indian phone numbers using his illegal telecom set-up that bypassed the legal gateway for such connections and caused financial loss to the Government and the telephone service providers.

The accused Shameem from Kerala was arrested from his rented house at Kamanakerehundi near Old Kesare. An FIR was lodged in this regard at Narasimharaja (NR) Police Station and the arrest has been made based on valid information. A D-Link Wi-Fi Router with a SIM slot, five basic mobile phones, three computers, five Digital Timers, SIM cards, internet modems, a 32-port four SIM box and a host of equipment have been seized from his possession. The Police said the accused had bypassed International Subscriber Dialling (ISD) protocols and licences. 

The accused was using more than 500 SIM cards to place calls through Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and these are harder to trace and in turn can become a major national security threat as the callers can’t be identified at all. 

A press release from the Office of the City Police Commissioner  said that based on the information, the illegal set-up was tracked at the house and equipment and evidence were collected. The accused had illegally installed the telecom set-up and used his system to divert voice calls from international numbers to Indian (local) phone numbers, bypassing the legal connection gateway. 

The illegal acts of the accused have caused heavy loss to the Telecom Department and the Government and also he could jeopardise national security apart from endangering the security and privacy of citizens, the Police added. Shameem had indulged in the illegal activity for a long time, the Police added. 

He has been booked under  IPC Section 419, 420 and under relevant sections of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1883 and the Information Technology Act.