Chennai: Have you ever wondered why your calls drop or your mobile internet slows down, even in the same spot where you had no issues the day before? A gang from North India, in collusion with locals from Kancheepuram, Chengalpet, and eight other northern districts of Tamil Nadu, is stealing crucial communication equipment from cell phone towers, causing these disruptions.
Since 2022, the gang targeted devices like Radio Remote Units (RRUs) and Baseband Units (BBUs), selling them on the black market in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. So far, 185 cases were registered across northern Tamil Nadu, with over 30 arrests, including key suspects from Muzaffarnagar and Meerut.
Jayakumar, a Cluster Manager (Operations) for a private telecom operator, who was one of the first to spot the theft, said that the gang used specialised tools to remove RRUs fixed at heights of up to 40 metres and BBUs, always striking at night. "When we investigated complaints about dropped calls or poor signal overnight, we found the equipment missing by morning," he said. A typical tower has 20 to 25 pieces of equipment, but the thieves targeted only the most expensive and critical components.
The theft of RRUs and BBUs, which support 4G and 5G networks, forces the remaining equipment, like Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) systems, to take over. These systems can only handle 2G, leading to weak signals, poor browsing, slow apps, interrupted video streaming, and sluggish downloads.
As more telecom operators reported similar disruptions, the police formed a special task force, led by ADGP Davidson Devasirvatham, to investigate. The task force discovered that a 30-member gang, with local accomplices from Kancheepuram, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram, and Vellore, was behind the thefts. Some accomplices were scrap dealers, while others were technicians familiar with cell tower operations.
The task force arrested 14 individuals from Uttar Pradesh, including key suspects like CH Kameel, 28, from Baghpat, A Samshed, 33, from Meerut, and A Mohammed Abid, 27, from Muzaffarnagar. Other suspects were apprehended from Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, and Delhi.
Asra Garg, North Zone Inspector General of Police, said that the gang's method was deceptively simple but highly effective. Posing as legitimate technicians, they gained access to towers, stole the equipment, and transported it to northern India, where it was sold to scrap dealers for illegal resale, he said.
In the black market, the stolen equipment is often used in unregulated telecom networks to set up unauthorised systems in remote areas. Smaller operators buy these goods as cheap alternatives, often without proper documentation, said J Saravanan, a cybercrime expert with govt experience. "Some of the stolen items are even exported to countries with looser regulations, where demand for second-hand telecom gear is high. In more extreme cases, criminal networks use this equipment to set up covert communication systems, evading law enforcement surveillance," he said. MSID:: 114555802 413 |