Mumbai, Dec 5 (IANS) The Mumbai Crime Branch announced that it has busted a fake international call centre allegedly involved in selling counterfeit Viagra and other controlled medicines to US citizens, arresting eight individuals and launching a search for the prime accused and others still absconding.

According to officials of Crime Branch Unit 9, the operation was being run from a premises in Kevnipada on S.V. Road in Amboli, Jogeshwari (West). The call centre, which identified itself as “Team Grand 9 Security Services LLP,” had allegedly been active for the past six to seven months.

Investigators said employees posed as US-based telemarketers, impersonated representatives of pharmaceutical companies, and targeted American citizens whose private data had been illegally sourced.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Mohammad Aamir Iqbal Shaikh (40), Mahir Iqbal Patel (26), Mohammad Shabib Mohammad Khalil Shaikh (26), Mohammad Ayaz Parvez Shaikh (26), Adam Ehsanullah Shaikh (32), Aryan Mushaffir Qureshi (19), Amaan Aziz Ahmed Shaikh (19), and Hashmat Jamil Jariwala (29).

The main accused, Muzaffar Shaikh (43), along with Aamir Maniyar and others, is currently absconding, police said. A search is underway to trace them.

All eight accused were produced before the Esplanade Court on Thursday. The court remanded them to police custody until December 10 to enable further investigation into the scope of the alleged fraud, the procurement of foreign data, and possible financial transactions routed through overseas channels.

During the raid, the Crime Branch seized several laptops, headsets, pen drives, hard drives, and other digital equipment believed to have been used to run the illegal operation. These devices will undergo forensic analysis to determine the scale of data theft and identify the number of foreign nationals who may have been duped.

A senior Crime Branch officer said the breakthrough came after specific intelligence indicated that the call centre was “impersonating American nationals and targeting US citizens through telemarketing pitches involving pharmaceutical products.”

Mumbai Crime Branch said, “Our team acted swiftly on the tip-off and conducted a coordinated raid. The accused were running a fake international call centre and were found to be misleading foreign nationals by impersonating pharmaceutical representatives. We have seized digital equipment and documentation that will help us uncover the full extent of the operation. Efforts are ongoing to trace the absconding accused.”

Police said further arrests are likely as the investigation progresses, particularly as forensic teams begin analysing the seized data and electronic devices.

–IANS

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