Three grabbed for diverting external calls

Three people, two Indians and a Ghanaian, have been arrested for telecommunication fraud also known as Premium Rate Service.

The suspects, Harwinder Singh, 45, and Inderjit Kumar Singh, 36, both Indians, and William Abri, 25, are in police custody assisting in investigation. They were alleged to have diverted international calls which could have gone through the systems of the telecommunication companies leading to loss of revenue to the state and telecom companies.

At a news briefing in Accra Tuesday, the acting Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Proper Kwame Agblor, said the suspects were arrested in Takoradi and Accra on March 2 and 4 upon a tip-off.

He said a joint taskforce made up of the police, National Communications Authority, Vodafone and MTN arrested the two Indians last Friday. He said Harwinder who registered a company called Hilmaya Company Limited, applied for five postpaid SIMs from MTN to be distributed to the staff of the company.

It was detected that he ostensibly used those cards to defraud the company to the tune of GH¢131,886.00 within five days.
The suspect, DCOP Agblor said, also applied for 21 postpaid SIMs of Vodafone to be distributed to the staff of the company, for which he incurred a bill of GH¢270, 538.15 within six days of usage.

All the calls, Mr. Agblor said, were made to international destinations.

Meanwhile, DCOP Agblor said the company had no workers and the address provided turned out to be a bath house in the Brong-Ahafo Region.

Hilmaya was also alleged to have applied for 30 mobile lines in Kumasi under the name of Parbat Agro Company Limited and within ten days he used the lines for international calls amounting to GH¢904,392.00.

It has, however, been established that the company does not have any staff at all and the total loss to Vodafone amounted to GH¢1, 74,000 or $771, 761.80.

Mr. Agblor said the second Indian suspect, Inderjit, was arrested with the support of Airtel. He was said to have gone to Airtel offices in Takoradi in December last year to make enquiries about the company’s postpaid services for his company, called Visual Agro Limited.

He allegedly applied for 25 mobile lines and within two days, it incurred a loss of GH¢130,000, or $85,000 to Airtel and the state.
DCOP Agblor said investigations revealed that the company had no staff. It also came to light that the suspects were visitors to the country and their visas had expired.

Mr. Agblor said Abri was arrested on March 2, at his house at Greda Estate, Teshie in Accra for illegally operating SIM box operation.

During a search, quantities of computer equipment with SIM box were intercepted. The operation of the facility, he said, was causing Vodafone and the state over GH¢2.5 million per month.

The Minister of Communications, Haruna Iddrisu, who was at the news briefing, commended the Police and the telecom operators for the arrests.

He expressed government’s determination to deal decisively with anybody who breaches the country’s laws, noting that even though the country is a gateway to West Africa, it would not allow investors and visitors to engage in clandestine activities that would undermine its economic development.

Source: Ghanaian Times