VoIP Violation Uncovered in Chattogram: RAB Seizes SIM Boxes, Servers, and Thousands of SIMs
In a late-night raid prompted by an investigation by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB-7) has uncovered a significant illegal Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) operation in Chattogram’s Halishahar area. The raid, conducted at 11:00 PM on Tuesday, July 1, on the ninth floor of a multi-storey residential building, resulted in the seizure of 30 unauthorized SIM boxes, 10 servers, and approximately 10,000 SIM cards used for illegal VoIP communications.
According to Major Md. Sanriya Chowdhury, Deputy Commander of RAB-7 Chattogram, the primary suspect—who was residing in the flat with his family—has been detained. Though the individual’s identity has not been disclosed, Major Sanriya stated, “With support from the NTMC and BTRC, we have uncovered a major fraudulent syndicate involved in illegal VoIP. For investigative reasons, we are withholding the number of people involved and their names.”
Interrogation of the detainees revealed that “for just BDT 1,000, one could obtain 20 SIM cards registered under someone else’s National ID,” the officer added. Most of the seized SIMs were reportedly issued by Teletalk, with some belonging to Airtel.
RAB further informed that the suspect was routing international calls to and from Bangladesh through VoIP for BDT 1 per minute, while incurring a cost of BDT 0.75 per minute for server operations. This enabled a profit margin of BDT 0.25 per minute. With thousands of minutes of calls handled daily through this illegal setup, the government was losing a significant amount of revenue.
