Guwahati, March 8: In a major breakthrough, Assam Police have, during the course of an operation on Tuesday night, arrested five persons from Nagaon and Morigaon districts for allegedly supplying SIM cards to some Pakistani agents.
According to reports, police had launched raids in Nagaon and Morigaon districts of central Assam on the basis of intelligence inputs that around 10 persons from the two districts had fraudulently procured SIM cards from various telecom service providers and supplied the same to Pakistani agents, thereby working against the integrity and sovereignty of the country.
The arrested accused persons have been identified as Ashiqul Islam, Badruddin, Mizanur Rahman and Wahiduz Zaman (all from Nagaon) and Baharul Islam from Morigaon.
Five other accused have been stated to be absconding.
Reportedly, police had conducted raids in the houses of the accused and recovered 18 mobile phones, 136 SIM cards, suspected to have been fraudulently acquired, one fingerprint scanner, one high-tech CPU, besides other incriminating materials.
During interrogation, it was revealed that one of the accused had used a mobile handset with two IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) numbers from which a WhatsApp call was made, sharing defence information with a foreign embassy.
The mobile phone that was used to allegedly leak information to Pakistani agents was found to be in the possession of the accused.
Police said efforts were underway to track and arrest the other five accused. Further investigation in the case is underway.
Meanwhile, Assam Cabinet minister Pijush Hazarika said that tough measures would be taken to thwart such attempts by anti-national elements.
“Such anti-national elements are there in some districts of the state which is why we have intensified measures to thwart such nefarious activities. None of these elements will be spared as our operations against them will be even more intensive,” Hazarika remarked to a query from mediapersons on Wednesday.
