KATHMANDU, JULY 27

The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police along with Nepal Telecom raided a hitech Voice Over Internet Protocol call centre operating from a rented room in Bhimdatta Municipality-18, Kanchanpur, and arrested three persons, including an Indian national, for their alleged involvement in the telecommunications crime yesterday.

The suspects have been identified as Gulzar Ahamed, 41, of Delhi, India, and Prabin Khadka, 40, and Deepak Singh Bohara, 47, of Kanchanpur. They were found running the illegal VoIP call centre during the raid carried out by its team of Operation Voice Fox.

The CIB said they had been involved in blocking the telecom service providers' legal gateway to bypass incoming international calls for the past few months, causing revenue losses to authorised telecom companies,' he informed. According to the CIB, the phone calls received via illegal VoIP could not be traced, making it difficult for police to investigate crimes.

Police also confiscated two laptops, VoIP gateway devices, router, modem and many other equipment used for bypassing international calls from the room. The CIB said the suspects were handed over to Kanchanpur District Police Office for further investigation and legal action. They will be charged under the Telecommunications Act, 1997. As per the Act, any person who intentionally causes adverse effect, damage or any other loss to the telecommunication structure of the country is liable to a fine equal to the loss or five years in jail or both.

According to the CIB, call bypassers use VoIP GSM gateway to divert international incoming calls from the official gateway.

A version of this article appears in the print on July 28, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.