Hundreds of fake SIM cards were seized from various locations in Kolkata and its outskirts between February 24 and February 25. Photo: Special Arrangement

Between Monday and Tuesday (February 24 and February 25), the cybercrime wing of Kolkata Police arrested eight persons in connection with the alleged fraudulent sale of unauthorised SIM cards.

In several consecutive raids in Bidhannagar and Baguihati in North 24 Parganas, and Topsia and Beliaghata in Kolkata, police also seized nine biometric authentication machines, 15 mobile phones and around 729 fraudulent SIM cards.

All the eight accused are aged between 22 and 33. Of the accused, Deblina Chakraborty is one of the largest providers of fake SIM cards in West Bengal as per the list provided by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre, a Kolkata Police official alleged. 

“Among the seized SIM cards, we found both raw as well as pre-activated SIM cards that prove unauthorised activation of the SIMs. The arrested individuals were involved in the exploitation of the Point of Sale (POS) terminals belonging to Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea (VI), and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). Those were utilised to activate fictitious SIM cards,” a top official of Kolkata Police said on Wednesday.

The police official alleged that these fraudulent SIM cards were subsequently transferred to fraudsters located in various parts of India and abroad, and were allegedly used to commit cyber crimes.

The arrested individuals include Anirban Saha, 28, his wife Deblina Chakraborty, 24, Ripan Saha, 22, Sobhan Debnath, 27, Sajal Mondal, 33, Arijit Roy, 33, Md. Reza, 22, and Rajesh Mahato, 28.

“It is worth noting that the seized items include a biometric authentication device, fitted with some glue-like material with a fingerprint impression embossed on it. This was ostensibly used to fraudulently obtain the fingerprint-based Know Your Customer (KYC) data of unsuspecting individuals, which has the potential to be used for the issuance of unauthorised SIM cards,” police sources said on Wednesday, referring to one of the items seized in a raid conducted on February 25 at Beliaghata and Topsia.

A case has been initiated against the eight under Sections 66C, 66D and 43 of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 along with Sections 61(2), 319(2), 318(4), 336(2), 336(3), 338, 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, 2023.

In related developments, the Detective Department of Kolkata Police conducted a raid at the White House Building, Iron Gate Road under the Garden Reach Police Station area on Tuesday (February 25) and arrested four people in connection with allegedly running an illegal call centre there.

Four persons, namely Khalid Yusuf Khan, 29, Mursil Khan, 28, Justin Paul, 28, and Md. Shahrukh, 33, were arrested under Sections 66, 66C, 66D, and 43 of the IT Act as well as Sections  61(2), 319(2), 318(4), 336(2), 336(3), 338, 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, 2023.

The police also seized cash approximately worth ₹1.18 crore, laptops, documents, hard disks, and some gold ornaments.