Parallel telephone exchange: special team likely to investigate

THRISSUR: A special team may be formed to probe the incident where parallel telephone exchanges were busted at Koratty and five places in Ernakulam. A special team might be formed since the investigation might be extended to other districts and states. The exchange activity was regulated from foreign countries and this should also be investigated. The state police have already contacted several units, including the Delhi Intelligence, in connection with the case.

It is learnt that Rishad (28) and Hakeem (32), who were arrested in the incident, had received training in parallel exchange operations from Bangalore. The Malayali who trained them is absconding. The police have also arrested another person named Nuthin (32), a native of Angamaly. They were arrested on Sunday by a team led by the Chalakudy DySP.

The police concluded that important evidence would be obtained from the equipment seized from Ernakulam. The investigation is also focusing on more than 100 SIM cards used by the accused. It is being investigated whether there were other motives behind the incident besides financial gain. A parallel telephone exchange was found to have been used in the kidnapping of a gold smuggler in Koyilandy. Police also suspect that the parallel exchanges now being discovered are interrelated.

State-of-the-art devices seized from Hakem's home

14 state-of-the-art VoIP GSM gateways, which are used to convert international phone calls to local calls, were seized from Hakeem's home. 11 Wi-Fi routers and related devices capable of connecting signals from one SIM card to multiple SIM cards were also seized. The detained computer and the DVR of the CCTV camera were handed over to the cyber cell for detailed examination.