The Special Task Force (STF) of the Odisha Police on Sunday detained two associates of Pathanisamant Lenka, the kingpin of the racket involved in procuring a huge number of pre-activated SIM cards and selling the OTPs to some Pakistani Intelligence Operatives (PIO) and other cyber criminals.
Lenka’s two associates were picked from Jajpur district.
STF officials said Lenka would be brought on a five-day remand from Monday. This assumes significance as the STF wants to unearth more information from the accused in connection with the sensitive case.
The STF has already shared all information with the National Investigating Agency (NIA) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) regarding the case.
Besides, the agency would send the mobile phone of the accused to the forensic laboratory for testing.
The STF had earlier said Lenka was in touch with a woman PIO, who was arrested under the Official Secrets Act in a honey-trap case in Rajasthan in 2022.
The investigating agency had earlier seized 19 costly mobile phones, including Apple phones, 47 SIM cards, 61 ATM cards and 23 SIM covers from the accused.
