On late Thursday (April 27) night, Haryana Police conducted multiple raids in the Nuh district as part of its massive crackdown against cyber criminals. 102 police teams comprising over 5,000 personnel raided 14 villages in Nuh and apprehended 125 cybercriminals or hackers.
Giving details of the raids, Nuh SP Varun Singla said that 65 of the 125 people detained by the police have been arrested. One of those detained is a criminal with a cash reward on his head. There are twenty cases filed against them. “We will seek police remand for them when they are presented in court on Saturday,” Singla said.
He also added that among the arrested youths, three are from Tijara, Rajasthan, and one from Mathura.
During the raids, the police teams seized a sizable quantity of items, including card swipe machines, smartphones, computers, Aadhaar cards, and ATM cards. According to the police, the suspects are being questioned to find out more information.
At a press conference on Friday in Bhondsi, DIG (STF) Simardeep Singh stated that the police had started this operation against cybercriminals on the orders of DGP PK Agrawal.
The crackdown against cyber offenders was carried out by more than 5,000 police officers, including an SP, six additional SPs, and 14 DSPs. The majority of the 31 cybercriminals were found in the Nai village, followed by 25 in Luhinga Kalan, 20 in Jaimat, 17 in Khedla, 20 in Tirwara, and 11 in Aminabad.
In addition to 166 Aadhaar cards, 66 cellphones, 65 fake SIM cards, three laptops, 128 ATM cards, two ATM swipe machines, an AEPS machine, six scanners, and five PAN cards were also recovered by the police. Furthermore, 22 motorcycles, two cars, four tractor-trailers, seven country-made weapons, and two cartridges were also seized.
The 14 identified villages in the Punhana, Pinangwa, Ferozepur Jhirka, and Bichhore areas were simultaneously raided by the police. The drive started at 11.30 pm on late Thursday night.
Khedla, Luhinga Khurd, Luhinga Kalan, Gokalpur, Godhola, Aminabad, Mahu, Gulalta, Jaimat, Jakhopur, Nai, Tirwara, Mamlika, and Papda were among the hotspots for cybercrime that the police had previously identified. A senior police officer stated that over the past two years, uneducated or 12th-pass youths involved in theft, livestock smuggling, and other crimes switched to cybercrime after getting trained.
Due to the increase in “sextortion” and online fraud, the Nuh region in Haryana has become a hotbed for cybercrime. Sextortion
is a type of cybercrime in which offenders use sexual threats to blackmail their victims using explicit materials including private videos through online interaction. Apart from extortion, these criminals also cheat people and steal KYC data of people in the name of selling vehicles on OLX, offering loans, etc.