A Special Task Force (STF) of the Assam Police has arrested seven persons since May 16 under “Operation Ghost SIM,” which busted a racket involving the transmission of OTPs to individuals in Pakistan to set up accounts using Indian WhatsApp numbers.
Assam director-general of police Harmeet Singh said the SIM cards were procured under false identities and subsequently used not only for cyber crimes but also for "anti-national" activities.
“In this case, there seems to be clear evidence that some of these numbers were shared with Pakistan and are being used by anti-national and inimical elements to create WhatsApp accounts that appear India-based,” Singh said in Guwahati.
He said seven persons had been arrested from Assam, Rajasthan and Telangana for allegedly being part of the network. “A couple of them have been sharing OTPs across the border… The specific roles played by each person in the network will be ascertained during the investigation. People arrested in Rajasthan and Hyderabad are still on their way to Guwahati,” Singh added.
The STF in Guwahati registered a case on May 14 based on intelligence inputs provided by the Army’s Gajraj Military Intelligence. The case was filed under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Information Technology Act.
In a statement, the army said it had received information from the Gajraj Military Intelligence about a racket involving fake SIM cards being used from bases in Assam, Rajasthan and Telangana for cybercrimes and other anti-national activities, including sensitive information gathering by agents based in Pakistan. “This information was further developed by the Special Branch and STF of Assam police,” the statement said.
“After strategic deliberations with the Gajraj intelligence unit, a joint operation was planned to be executed simultaneously in two districts of Assam, one district in Telangana, and two districts in Rajasthan. The operation has been named Operation Ghost SIM,” the statement added.
Accordingly, teams were dispatched to Rajasthan and Telangana, while dedicated action teams were formed for the districts of Dhubri and Morigaon in Assam.
Following the registration of the case, coordinated raids were conducted on May 16 in Dhubri and Morigaon in Assam, and selected districts of Rajasthan and Telangana. These raids led to the arrest of seven individuals for allegedly using SIM cards to create WhatsApp accounts, with the OTPs for activation being routed to Pakistan.
Police said they had seized 948 fake SIM cards believed to be under control from across the border.
The arrested persons have been identified as: Saddik, 47, Akeek, 25, and Arsad Khan, 34, from Bharatpur, Rajasthan; Arif Khan, 20, and Sajid, 21, from Alwar, Rajasthan; Mofijul Islam, 19, from Dhubri, Assam, who was arrested from Sangareddy in Telangana; and Jakariya Ahmad, 24, from Dhubri, Assam.