5,000 Haryana cops swoop down on cybercriminals in Nuh district, arrest 65

Sanjay Yadav

Gurugram, April 28

Over 14 villages in Nuh district are fast turning into cybercrime hot spots. Village youths are indulging in cybercrime, some of them by using stolen smartphones.

Most of them have studied only up to Class XII, while some are even illiterate. They cheat people in the garb of selling vehicles on OLX, seeking KYC data, offering loans and even sextortion. This came to the fore during the preliminary interrogation of 125 “hackers”, who were detained in a massive operation against cybercriminals by the Haryana Police last night. As many as 102 teams comprising over 5,000 police personnel raided 300 locations in 14 villages in the district, the police said.

“Of those detained, we have arrested 65, including a criminal who had a reward on his head. Twenty cases have been registered against them. Of the 14 villages, four — Nai, Aminabad, Tirwara and Jaimat — account for a majority of those detained. They will be produced in a court tomorrow and we will seek police remand for them. Three of them are residents of Tijara in Rajasthan and one of Mathura, while the remaining are from Nuh district,” said Varun Singla, SP, Nuh.

DIG (STF) Simardeep Singh, at a press meet in Bhondsi today, said following directions from DGP PK Agrawal, the police had launched this operation against cybercriminals.

Over 5,000 policemen, including an SP, six additional SPs and 14 DSPs, launched the crackdown against cyber offenders. “The highest number of 31 cybercriminals were nabbed from Nai village, followed by 25 from Luhinga Kalan village, 20 each from Jaimat and Jakhopur, 17 each from Khedla and Tirwara, and 11 from Aminabad.

The police seized 66 smartphones, 65 fake SIM cards, 166 Aadhaar cards, three laptops, 128 ATM cards of various banks, two ATM swipe machines, an AEPS machine, six scanners and five PAN cards from them. Besides, seven country-made pistols, two cartridges, two cars, four tractor-trailers and 22 motorcycles were also seized from them.

The police simultaneously raided the 14 identified villages in the Punhana, Pinangwa, Ferozepur Jhirka and Bichhore areas. The drive started at 11.30 pm last night.

The police had earlier identified Khedla, Luhinga Khurd, Luhinga Kalan, Gokalpur, Godhola, Aminabad, Mahu, Gulalta, Jaimat, Jakhopur, Nai, Tirwara, Mamlika and Papda as cybercrime hot spots. A senior police officer said illiterate youths involved in theft, cattle smuggling and other crimes shifted to cybercrime during the past two years after being “trained” in it.

From OLX deals to sextortion

• Used to cheat people in garb of selling vehicles on OLX, seeking KYC data, offering loans & sextortion
• 102 teams, including an SP, six additional SPs and 14 DSPs, raid 300 locations in 14 villages
• Seize 66 smartphones, 65 fake SIM cards, 166 Aadhaar cards, 3 laptops, 128 ATM, 5 PAN cards
• Confiscate seven country-made pistols, two cartridges, two cars, four tractor-trailers and 22 motorcycles