Three arrested for hacking Airtel SIM cards illegally

Nagpur, July 23 (UNI) Three persons, including an employee of a cellular phone shop, were today arrested in connection with hacking sim cards of Airtel and selling them to customers who used to make international calls illegally duping the company of over Rs 1.25 lakh.

Giving details about the cyber crime, Joint Commissioner of Police Dalbir Bharati told newsmen here the accused - Mohsin Ismail Patni (25), the emplyoee of the cellular phone shop 'Dalmiya Cellular Limited', which is the authorised franchise of Airtel, used to hack the Airtel Sim cards without the knowledge of the shop owner, manipulate them on existing card holder's names and sell them to customers with the help of his associates, Mohd Washim Abdul Krim (27) resident of Mominpura in Nagpur, and Tarique Azam Nanhe Sheikh from Khunpur in Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh.

On a complaint of the shop owner, all the three accused - Mohsin, Mohd Washim and Tarique were arrested and during the interrogation they confessed they have sold 15 such cards and admitted the crime. Mohsin admitted he was so far getting enormous money by way of hacking and selling them to customers who were easily attracted to avoid paying phone bills.

Mr Bharati said these customers used to make international calls for hours. From June 18 to July 14, such calls were made in countries of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and other countries, he said.

Two months ago, three militants were killed in an attempt to blow up the RSS headquarters here and investigation will turn to that direction whether the calls were made to activists of any militant organisations, police said.

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