City Police Arrest 104 Of Cyber Crime Syndicate

In one of the largest coordinated crackdowns, under codename "Operation Octopus", on cybercrime, the Hyderabad police have dismantled a sprawling pan-India cyber fraud syndicate.

The 10-day operation by 32 special teams exposed a massive money-laundering network linked to 1,055 cybercrime cases involving fraud worth approximately Rs 127 crore, and led to the arrest of 104 accused persons across 16 States. Those arrested include 86 mule account holders, 17 account suppliers/aggregators and one bank official.

Investigations by the Cyber Crime Police Station (CCPS) identified 151 bank accounts used to siphon and layer proceeds from investment scams, trading frauds and digital arrest scams.

During the operation, the police seized 204 mobile phones, 141 SIM cards, 152 bank passbooks, 234 debit/credit cards, 26 laptops, 56 corporate stamps and Rs 36 lakh in cash.

The operation was spearheaded by DCP (Cyber Crimes) V Aravind Babu under the supervision of Commissioner of Police V C Sajjanar and Joint CP S M Vijay Kumar.

The police said that investigations were ongoing to track and arrest the higher-level masterminds, and reiterated their strict "zero tolerance" to cybercrime policy.