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In a major operation, the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Mumbai Crime Branch, in coordination with the Uttar Pradesh Police’s Special Task Force (STF), has arrested a wanted and rewarded cyber criminal from Mumbai’s Colaba area. The arrested accused has been identified as Shihan Ishtiyaq Sheikh, who had been absconding for the past several months. The UP STF had announced a reward of ₹50,000 on his arrest. Sheikh was living in Colaba and was working with a travel company as a cover to evade arrest. Following his arrest, the UP STF team obtained a three-day transit remand and left for Lucknow on Thursday with the accused. Investigations by the CIU and UP STF have revealed that Sheikh was an active member of a cyber fraud gang operating in Uttar Pradesh. His role involved purchasing SIM cards from Mumbai and transporting them to Uttar Pradesh, where he sold them to members of his native village involved in cyber crime for ₹1,000 to ₹1,200 per SIM. The probe further revealed that some accused already arrested by the UP STF used fake Aadhaar cards to activate these SIM cards. The investigation has also exposed the collusion of officials from telecom companies in activating SIM cards using forged identities. Once activated, these SIM cards were allegedly sold to cyber crime kingpins based in Cambodia, for hefty sums. These SIMs were then used to carry out large-scale cyber frauds targeting Indian citizens, including digital arrest scams, stock market frauds and parcel scams. Investigators have disclosed that Sheikh and his gang had activated around 10,000 SIM cards over the last three years, all of which were sold to cyber crime syndicates. Earlier arrests in the case include Omprakash Agrahari, owner of Agrahari Communication and alleged gang leader; Shivdayal Nishad and Jitendra Kumar, sales executives of Vodafone Idea; Rahul Pandey, a lawyer and distributor; Shivbabu, a POS agent; and Surendra Singh, owner of Ravi Studio. According to the STF, Omprakash Agrahari had previously worked as a distributor and sales executive for Hutch, Vodafone and later Jio. In 2023, after Vodafone Idea terminated his distributorship, the gang allegedly created fake POS agents and activated SIM cards in their names. In several cases, one SIM would be issued to a customer while an additional SIM was illegally retained by the gang. The case was initially registered at Rajapur Police Station in Chitrakoot district and was later transferred to the UP STF for further investigation. Officials said that more major revelations are expected following Sheikh’s arrest.

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