Three arrested, four detained in fake IMEI number racket

INDORE: Police have arrested three persons, including a shopowner, here for alloting fake IMEI numbers in Chinese made mobile phones.

The arrest followed a raid by police in a mobile shop in dollar market last night, SP (crime) Jitendra Singh said on Sunday.

The owner of the shop Shahid Ali and his two employees have been arrested, he added.

Four others working in separate shops in the same market were taken away for questioning in this connection.

The SP said the raid followed tip off that the shop was inserting fake International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers in made-in-China mobile phones at the shop at a payment of Rs 250 extra per phone.

It came out during the questioning that they had put the same IMEI number in as many as 400 handsets using a software called 'spider', Singh said.

Union Telecom ministry has banned import of Chinese mobile phones since December 1 last year after it was found that these phones were used by terrorist organisations.

Cell phones manufactured in China do not have IMEI numbers and it is difficult to track their users.