Ashraf Unnichiravittal, a native of Kozhikode, Kerala, runs a roadside tea stall in Chikkabanavara, North Bengaluru, but he is no ordinary chaiwala.
If the Central Crime Branch (CCB) is to be believed, the 33-year-old was running a sophisticated telephone exchange scam.
At his rented home, he had set up an electronic device that enabled him to convert international calls to local ones. He had purchased many SIM cards, and the device helped bypass the routers to cheat the telecom companies. The illegal exchange had been operational for the past many months, and thousands of people made international phone calls using the exchange at dirt cheap prices.
A team of the CCB’s Anti-Terrorist Cell (ATC), headed by Assistant Commissioner of Police B R Venugopal and inspector Bharath, arrested Unnichiravittal on Monday on the basis of a tip-off. They raided his house and seized the device and several SIM cards. He has been taken into police custody for further questioning. According to the CCB, the unmonitored device had a high potential for misuse. He has been handed over to the North CEN (Cyber, Economic and Narcotics) Crime police station.
(Published 16 March 2021, 19:58 IST)
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