Kolkata, Dec 6 : Kolkata police has unearthed a massive mobile SIM card racket in the city following disclosures from Mumbai that two SIM cards used by terrorists in the Mumbai attacks were from this metropolis.

The Kolkata police have arrested a Kolkata resident Tauseef Rehman and a Srinagar resident Mukhtar Ahmed Sheikh in connection with the SIM card racket. They were produced at Bankshall City Civil and Sessions Court today and remanded to police custody till December 14.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Rajiv Kumar said Tauseef had supplied 22 SIM cards from Kolkata to Mukhtar. Mukhtar, who currently lives in Srinagar used to ply auto-rickshaws in Kolkata earlier and his wife is from here. Mukhtar continued making regular visits to the city after shifting to Srinagar to sell Kashmiri shawls here.

Tauseef supplied him the SIM cards on demand. All the 22 SIM cards were acquired from different shops across the city using a fake voter ID card in the name of one Ashraf Numan. Both the name and address in the ID card were fake. Assistant CP Rajiv Kumar said investigations were on regarding the end users of these SIM cards acquired by Mukhtar. No disclosures can be made regarding that right now, he said. But Kumar said Mukhtar had sold off those SIM cards in Srinagar to different people for Rs 500 each.

Rajiv Kumar also said all the shops from where the SIM cards were bought would also be investigated thoroughly. He said the cards acquired were from almost all service providers operating in the city.(ANI)