Overview
- Kolkata Police arrested Arpan Sikdar and recovered six SIM boxes and 130 pre-activated SIM cards from a house in Ashoknagar, where the devices were concealed in a dustbin.
- Investigators say they found contact details of a Malaysian national tied to the setup and are seeking both the foreign contact and an Indian handler.
- Earlier Kolkata raids led to the arrest of Md. Amjad and the seizure of 12 SIM boxes and more than 2,000 SIM cards, after a retired engineer lost Rs 3.01 crore in a 'digital arrest' scam.
- CID Assam detained three more suspects—Mehdi Alom Jinnah, Galib Ijaz Ahmed and Jahirul Islam—bringing its case total to eight in a SIM and mule-account racket.
- Both forces are examining crypto conversions, courier linkages and SIM supply chains, with officers indicating the multi-state probe remains active and more arrests are likely.