Pune: The illegal telephone exchange busted by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in Pune's Kondhwa area has been operating for more than a year, with the suspect, Naushad Siddiqui, at its helm.

Siddiqui, originally from Uttar Pradesh, had been residing in Kondhwa and running this unauthorized operation, which routed international calls from countries like China, Pakistan, and the Gulf to local Indian numbers.

The ATS had been tracking this illegal activity and, acting on intelligence received on August 24th, raided the MA Complex building in Kondhwa on August 29th.

The raid led to the seizure of a significant amount of equipment, including 3,788 SIM cards, seven SIM boxes, nine Wi-Fi routers, antennas, and several laptops, all of which were instrumental in the operation of the illicit telephone exchange.

Siddiqui's scheme was designed to evade detection by telecommunications authorities, allowing international calls to be routed as local calls, thereby defrauding the Indian government’s telecommunications department and mobile service providers of significant revenue.

The ATS Thane unit arrested Siddiqui in Rajasthan, and he is currently in custody. The Pune unit of the ATS is set to take over the investigation, with plans to present Siddiqui in court on Monday (September 2).

Authorities are continuing their probe into the extent of the operation and whether others were involved. The ATS believes that the dismantled exchange could have been used to facilitate criminal or terrorist activities, posing a serious threat to national security.