KATHMANDU: In yet another clampdown on illegal call centre, the Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD) at Hanumandhoka has raided a hi-tech underground call centre and arrested a couple of racketeers secretly operating Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). The arrests were made from a rented room at New Lumbini Prasant Guest House in Gongabu. The arrested have been identified as Baburam Parajuli (31) and Ganesh Parajuli, both hailing from Wagla- 4 of Gulmi. They were found guilty of bleeding the national economy by operating VoIP and illegally blocking Nepal Telecom's gateway. Two others identified as Purusottam Ghimire from Khotang and Megh Nath Rijal from Pokhara are absconding. The racketeers have made use of GSM VoIP Gateway to divert international rings from the official gateway to VoIP. The call is then transferred to the telecom subscribers through a GSM Sim Card. According to MPCD, the International Subscriber Dialing (ISD) displays a personal caller ID on the receiver's gadget. 'The nexus of VoIP operators is in firing line of police,' informed SSP Rana Bahadur Chand, in-charge, MPCD. The VoIP racket, which has become a big headache to telecom service providers, is all pervasive in the Kathmandu Valley. Government and privately run telecom service providers are incurring a revenue loss in billions due to the fraudulent international calls. 'MPCD has made a leap forward to tear down the VoIP racketeers thriving in the urban centres. We are very close to the rest of the hideouts of the racketeers,' argued Chand. Baburam, in association with Ganesh (guest house owner), was operating VoIP through back-door. The police have uncovered a huge cache of equipment, electronic materials and cash worth Rs 14,600 in connection with the raid. According to Telecommunications Act, 2053 BS, any person convicted of posing threat to telecommunications systems and its services will be liable to pay a fine equal to the principal amount of damage caused or face jail sentence by up to five years. Baburam and Ganesh have been handed over to Metropolitan Police Range, Hanumandhoka. Police have launched a manhunt to track down the absconders.