Tribune News Service
Faridkot, October 1
Rounding up two persons, the police have busted a gang whose members were allegedly procuring SIM cards on fake IDs and selling these to jail inmates, unauthorised call centres, spammers and cyber criminals.
The police have arrested two of the gang members who belong to Dabwali town of Sirsa district in Haryana. The police are hopeful of nabbing more members of the gang.
After a tip-off, the police conducted a raid and apprehended Harnam Singh and Karan Goyal of Dabwali who had in their possession such SIM cards. Faridkot SP (D) Balkrishan Singla said the police were investigating the case.
Preliminary investigation revealed that some members of the gang had been working at mobile phone shops and selling SIM cards procured on fake IDs for the past year.
The police believe many of the SIM cards were sold to jail inmates here. With recovery of over 100 mobile phones from jail inmates here this year, the easy accessibility and use of mobile phones in the Faridkot Jail has been a cause for concern for the police. The mobile phones were also recovered from gangsters in the jail here.
Under the Prisons Act, 1894, a prisoner or inmate found guilty of possessing, operating a mobile phone or its components like SIM card, memory card, battery or charger can be punished for a term not exceeding one year under Section 52-A of the Act.
However, inmates do not worry about the crime committed inside the jail, said a senior functionary in the jail. “Inmates don’t have any fear of being caught with phones. They think that if they are caught or prosecuted, they might get a concurrent sentence,” said the officer.
This is the reason that the inmates who’ve committed heinous crime are involved in more criminal activities from inside the prison, he said.
Four gangsters nabbed in Moga
- The police have arrested four gangsters and recovered three 9-mm pistols and 300-gram heroin from them in the past 24 hours
- The police held Amandeep Singh of Ferozepur, from the bus stand of Mehna village
- A case under Sections 21, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act and Sections 25 (6), 54 and 59 of the Arms Act has been registered against him at the Mehna police station
Fake SIM card gang busted
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