After the abrogation of article 370 and crack down on terrorists by the central government, it is assumed that they have shifted their terror infrastructure to Kerala.
After getting clues of Pakistan’s involvement in the operation of Parallel telephone exchanges in Kerala, the investigative agency has decided to transfer the case to National Investigative Agency (NIA). Military intelligence has found that the Islamist outfit Popular Front of India operated these parallel telephone exchanges on behalf of Pakistan’s ISI.
Earlier, such setups were only seen in Kashmir. After the abrogation of article 370 and crack down on terrorists by the central government, it is assumed that they have shifted their terror infrastructure to Kerala. The appeasement politics of CPM and Congress is largely seen as the reason for rising Islamic fundamentalism in Kerala.
More parallel telephone exchanges found in Kerala, intelligence agencies confirm ISI-links
Kerala police had busted a racket that was running 14 parallel telephone exchanges in various parts of Ernakulam district. Three people were arrested, and equipment was seized. Meanwhile, Intelligence Agencies confirmed the links of Pakistan’s ISI with such parallel telephone exchange operatives.
The arrested persons have been identified as Hakim (34), Irshad (23) and Nithin. The police recovered 14 SIM boxes, 11 routers, over 100 SIM cards and 50 cables from them. Each SIM box acts like a telephone exchange.
Koratty Station House Officer (SHO) B K Arun told the media, “This is a serious offence. We suspect these people were helping hawala operators and gold smugglers communicate with their aides in Kerala by evading the network of telecom companies."
“This gang might have links with another group that was caught running a similar parallel telephone exchange racket in Kozhikode last month. We have to identify the people who were being helped by the gang. Such a route is used to establish communications for illegal activities,” he said.
“International internet calls are diverted as local calls are using call routers and broadband connection. This way, the receiver will get a call from a local number instead of the international number. This is a cheaper method and, most importantly, telecom companies will be in dark about such internet calls. Such communication route can be adopted for anti-national activities. Each SIM box can operate multiple SIM cards at a time,” the official added.
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