Odisha: Three arrested for sharing SIM Cards, OTPs with Pak intelligence

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], May 15 : The Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha police on Sunday apprehended three people for fraudulently procuring huge numbers of SIM cards and sharing one-time passwords (OTP) with some criminals and anti-national elements including some Pakist Intelligence Operatives (PIO) and ISI agents in Pakistan as well as in India, officials said.

"They were fraudulently procuring huge numbers of SIMs in other's names and selling the OTPs to various clients including some PIO and ISI agents in Pakistan and India. In return, they would be paid by some Pakist agents based in India. They were also in touch with a female PIO agent who was arrested last year in an Official Secrets Act and Honey-Trap case in Rajasthan," Odisha STF said in a statement.

"Based on the intelligence input Odisha STF apprehended three accused persons from Nayagarh and Jajpur District and they have been identified as Pathsamant Lenka, (35) works as ITI Teacher, Saroj Kumar Nayak, (26) and Soumya Pattanaik, (19)" STF said.

During raids, various incriminating materials such as 19 mobile phones, 47 pre-activated SIM Cards, 61 ATM cards, 23 SIM covers and laptops were seized from their possession.

These OTPs were then used to create various accounts and channels on social media like Whatsapp, Telegram, Facebook and Instagram and also on online shopping sites like Amazon and Flipkart. These are also used in opening email accounts. People will think that these accounts are owned by an Indian but actually operated from Pakistan.

These social media platforms will be used for various kinds of Anti-India activities like Spying, communication with terrorists, radicalization, running anti-India propaganda, fuelling anti-India/ divisive sentiments on social media, sextortion, Honey-trapping etc. As these accounts are registered and linked to Indian mobile numbers people find it trustworthy.

The accounts opened on online shopping platforms are also used to supply items to terrorists, anti-India elements etc. Apart from these, they were also creating and selling mule accounts through social media groups, which are used in various crimes.