Your China-made smartphone may have microprocessor from Indian scrapyard, say UP Police

GB Nagar: The eleven Chinese nationals, who have been arrested in connection with what could be a spy ring running out of UP’s Noida, were running a smartphone scrap factory where they apparently salvaged the motherboard and microprocessor, and sent it back to China via Hong Kong for again being used in new smartphones to be shipped off to the world and India. As per UP STF, Ravi, the Indian accomplice of the Chinese operators, had recently received nearly Rs 11 crore for being a helping hand in stealing data as well as the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) or motherboards of discarded mobile phones in India. Ravi, as per the charge sheet of the UP STF, was heading the operations at the mobile scrap factory where he was collecting the scrapped mobile phones. Ravi allegedly exported these mobile spare parts back to China via Hong Kong, evading stamp duty, cops said. A senior officer in UP STF told Firstpost that the microprocessors are costly spare parts and prima facie it seems the accused were sending them back to China through an illegal network so that they could re-use it in the new phones that are to be sent back to India and the World. Further, the cops fear spare parts that were being salvaged and sent back to China also included memory chips through which the Chinese were stealing personal data of Indians from their scrapped phones. Investigation is on in this regard, cops said. As per STF, the gang was being operated from China. One Xin Di, a Chinse national, who is a wanted criminal in Telangana, was running the show while sitting in China. He was getting help by Ravi, who had dropped out from a Chinese university where he was pursuing MBBS to head Xin Di’s operations in India, police said. Cops said, mobile scrap export was one of the anti-India operations that were being carried out in UP’s Noida on the directions of Xin Di. So far, 11 Chinese nationals, along with one Tibetan and seven Indians, including girls from north eastern states, have been arrested. Apart from mobile scrap smuggling, this organised gang duped several hundred Indians on the pretext of registration in the money lending apps and trading tips. Allegedly, using this modus operandi, they scammed Indians to the tune of Rs 250 crore. Must Read: How 7 Chinese illegals ran anti-India ops from UP’s Noida: Online fraud, illegal smartphone scrap shop to extract data… Cops said that the fake call-centre was also operated initially from Ravi’s illegal factory in which allegedly two accomplices Nikhil and Hemant helped him. However, news of the death of a person they had duped by suicide forced them to shift the call-centre to a new location. The matter had come to light after Shashatra Surakhsha Bal (SSB), India’s border police, had intercepted two Chinese nationals at Nepal border after which they failed to show any visa documents. Based on SSB’s input, the cops in Noida began investigating the case and reached to a VIP guest house in Greater Noida’s Gharbhara that was allegedly rented out by the Chinese. They had converted the guest house into a pub with disco lights. The cops made arrests of a few Chinese along with girls from several north eastern states from there and recovered several computers used for calling, along with booze, drugs and gaming consoles. It was revealed that the Chinese used to party in the said guest house. Indian girls allegedly were employed for calling as well as helping Chinese nationals in navigating life in Greater Noida. The girls helped them get fake Aadhar card, even a passport. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.