Anti-Terrorism Squad conducted raids in Masjid Bunder, Dongri, Worli and Govandi in Mumbai

The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra police has busted an illegal telephone exchange and arrested seven persons from Mumbai and surrounding areas, a senior official said on Saturday.

The exchange is estimated to have caused a revenue loss of Rs 37 crore to the government and telecom operators.

Acting on a tip-off, the ATS conducted raids in Masjid Bunder, Dongri, Worli and Govandi in Mumbai and Panvel and Kalyan areas on the outskirts of the city on Friday, said Deputy Commissioner of Police Vinay Kumar Rathod.

Equipment including servers, 513 SIM cards, three laptops, WiFi routers and 11 mobile phones, all worth over Rs 6.5 lakh, were seized, he said.

The gang routed international VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) calls through local mobile phones using illegal servers, which caused a loss of at least over Rs 37.50 crore to the Government of India and telecom operators, he said.

Probe was underway to find out if these illegal telephone exchanges were also being used for anti-national activities.

Those arrested on Friday were identified as Naseem Khan (29), Faisal Batliwala (28), Sameer Deoraj (30), Hussain Sayyad (39), Mandar Achrekar (36), Sibtain Merchant (33) and Imtiaz Sheikh (38).