Islamabad:        A joint team of Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA), PTCL and FIA has raided a house in Lahore and detected an illegal gateway exchange involved in illegal telecom business.

            According to details, upon detection of illegal international call termination taking place at a residential bungalow in DHA, Lahore, a raid was conducted by a combined team of PTA, NSS, PTCL and FIA. The raiding team found an operational illegal gateway exchange bypassing legal gateways, at the said premises. It included VoIP gateways, GSM gateways, WLL phones, SIMs of mobile operators and other related equipment. The setup was capable of terminating illegal traffic from abroad by bypassing PTCL gateways and distributing it using WLL and mobile numbers. The FIA team has arrested Adeel Sabir, who was present at the site and looking after the setup and an FIR has been registered against him and his two partners Faisal and Masood.

            The equipment has also been confiscated and investigation is under process. It is estimated that the accused has caused million of rupees revenue loss to the Government and the telecom operators. It may be mentioned here that PTA was making efforts to eradicate menace of illegal international termination and was working vigilantly on this issue. Moreover, if anyone from general public gets information regarding such illegal activity or they observe a local number CLI during an international call, they can inform PTA at its toll free number 0800-55055. Their details will be kept confidential.       

(Khurram Ali Mehran)

Deputy Director (PR)