Haryana Police conducted several raids in the Nuh area late at night on April 27 as part of its sweeping crackdown on cyber offenders. Over 5,000 police officers from 102 police teams raided 14 villages in Nuh district and apprehended 125 cybercriminals.
Varun Singla, the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Nuh, gave details that out of 125 people detained, 65 of them have been arrested. One of them even has a cash reward on him as there are 20 cases against him. Singla stated, “We will seek police remand for them when they are presented in court on Saturday”. He further stated that three of the apprehended youths are from Tijara, Rajasthan, and one is from Mathura.
The police teams seized a large number of items, including card swipe machines, smartphones, computers, Aadhaar cards, and ATM cards, during the raids. The suspects are being questioned by police in order to obtain further information.
DIG (STF) Simardeep Singh revealed at a press briefing on April 28 in Bhondsi that the police began this operation against cybercriminals on the directives of DGP PK Agrawal. 102 police teams were formed, with over 5,000 police officers, including an SP, six more SPs, and 14 DSPs, participating in the crackdown on internet offenders.
Most of the 31 cybercriminals were discovered in Nai village, with 25 found in Luhinga Kalan, 20 in Jaimat, 17 in Khedla, 20 in Tirwara, and 11 in Aminabad.
During the raid, police recovered 166 Aadhaar cards, 66 cellphones, 65 fake SIM cards, three laptops, 128 ATM cards, two ATM swipe machines, an AEPS machine, six scanners, and five PAN cards. In addition, the police also seized 22 motorcycles, two cars, four tractor-trailers, seven country-made weapons, and two cartridges.
These raids were conducted under the jurisdiction of Mewat’s Punhana, Pingwa, Bichhor, and Ferozepur police stations at Mahu, Tiravada, Gokalpur, Luhinga Khurd, Luhinga Kala, Aminabad, Nai, Khedla, Gadaul, Gemant, Gulalata, Jakhopur, Papda, and Mamlika villages.
According to a senior police officer, during the last two years, uneducated or 12th-pass youths were earlier involved in theft, cattle smuggling, and other crimes. But now, they have turned to cybercrime after receiving the required training.
According to a police officer who participated in the raids talked about the seriousness of the issue, “Catching one scammer doesn’t end the problem as 10 others pop up. This is so popular among youngsters in the region that it has predominantly become a leaderless racket. There are no kingpins, and just a smartphone and a SIM card is needed”.
