VoIP tools seized
Staff Correspondent
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) seized a large quantity of highly sophisticated equipment used for running illegal Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) business from Westecs Bangladesh Ltd (Bay Phones) in Chittagong on July 12 and arrested two of its officials in this connection. The recovery, worth about Tk 15 crores, was presented before the press at a press briefing held in the seminar room of Rab headquarters yesterday afternoon. The recovered equipment includes eight Nuera Gateway, 12 VoIP Gateway, three Mux, two Vsat modem and gateway, ten CISCO switch (Media gateway), four channel bank, one server, two access channel bank and two excel switch. The two arrested officials were handed over to Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) by Rab. The two were identified as Rafiqul Islam, technical director, and Faizur Rahman, senior manager, of Bay Phones, a Public Switched Telecom Network (PSTN) private operator in Chittagong. Acting on a tip-off, the Rab teams, led by officials and engineers of the BTRC, started examining equipment used by the phone company and found that the company had installed two extra "Excel switch" beside their normal phone network. The investigation was conducted simultaneously at the head office of Bay Phones in the capital and its main switch room on Jamal Khan road in Chittagong. Following information extracted from the officials of the company, the equipment pieces were recovered from Halishahar, Mogoltuli, GEC intersection, Lalkhan Bazar and Sadarghat. "The network system the phone company had for terminating calls was distinctive, sophisticated and modern," said Lt. Col. Asif Ahmed Ansari, director, intelligence wing, Rab. The company was terminating calls through three American carriers named Bridge Communications, PCCW and BGLO. Bay Phones has lone official agreement with Bridge Communications. The owner of the company, Abul Hashem, an expatriate in America, received money from the American companies in foreign currency in America. As the number of calls using BTTB operator has decreased significantly in recent days, the intelligence wing of Rab initiated an investigation into the VoIP business and found Bay Phones running a VoIP business by terminating calls illegally, sources said. BTRC is likely to file a case against the company. Rab conducted the raid as part of their ongoing drive against VoIP businesses that violate the Bangladesh Telecommunications Act 2001. The elite force started busting illegal VoIP centres in the capital in December last year.
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