Prime accused in SIM racket arrested: Assam Police

Guwahati, Jun 1 (PTI) A prime accused in an inter-state racket, which provided SIM cards to cybercriminals including Pakistanis for opening WhatsApp accounts to dupe people, has been arrested by Assam Police, an official statement said on Sunday.

The accused was apprehended by the Special Task Force (STF) of the state police force on Saturday night from Dhubri under ongoing 'Operation Ghost SIM', it said.

The operation was conducted based on input provided by Gajraj Corps' Military Intelligence.

One laptop, two mobile phones, three micro ATM machines, one biometric device, six ATM Cards, 11 voter ID cards, one Aadhaar card and one PAN card were recovered during the operation, the statement said.

The total number of accused persons arrested under 'Operation Ghost SIM' is now at 11.

"Further interrogation of the accused is currently underway. Updates will be provided as the investigation progresses," the statement added.

The STF had busted the inter-state racket under 'Operation Ghost SIM', with the arrest of seven persons in the first success last month.

The operation was launched based on information provided by Military Intelligence about the racket operating with bases in Assam, Rajasthan and Telangana, Director General of Police (DGP) Harmeet Singh had said earlier.

The racket procured SIM cards under different names and dispatched these to criminals who used those for cybercrime and also 'anti-national activities', he said. PTI SSG SSG ACD