The Assam Police have busted an alleged Pakistan-linked fake SIM card racket and arrested seven people from the northeastern, northern, and southern parts of the country.
The arrests followed a tip-off from the Indian Army’s Assam-based Gajraj Corps about a group using fraudulently acquired SIM cards for cybercrimes and anti-national activities. The State police registered a case with its Special Task Force (STF) on May 14 and launched an investigation codenamed Operation Ghost SIM.
Five of the arrested men are from Rajasthan. While Saddik (47), Arif Khan (20), and Sajid (21) were arrested from Alwar and Bharatpur districts, Akeek (25) was arrested from Guwahati airport and Arsad Khan (34) from New Delhi airport.
The remaining two are from western Assam’s Dhubri district. Jakariya Ahmad (24) was arrested from the district’s Bilasipara, while Mofijul Islam (19) was arrested from Telangana’s Sangareddy district.
“Our Special Branch and STF worked on this case with inputs provided by the military intelligence, and our counterparts in Rajasthan and Telangana helped us catch the people involved in this racket,” Assam’s Director General of Police Harmeet Singh told journalists in Guwahati on Saturday.
Apart from seizing 948 ghost SIM cards and other technical devices, the police picked up 14 people from different places in Dhubri district. “We are trying to find out if they are involved in this racket or were duped [by the cyber criminals],” Mr. Singh said.
During the investigation, the police found that WhatsApp accounts were created by using these fraudulent SIM cards with OTPs for activation routed to Pakistan.
Mr. Singh said further investigation could reveal a bigger conspiracy behind the ghost SIM racket. A fraudulently acquired SIM card seized earlier was used to report the movement of Indian troops, he added.
The police said the SIM cards were activated using forged documents and circulated across State lines to mask criminal activities and facilitate untraceable digital operations.
“We are in touch with the [telecom] service providers to find out how these people circumvented the procedures of acquiring and operating fake SIM cards,” Mr. Singh said.
Published – May 17, 2025 10:54 pm IST
