Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR May 15: Police have registered a case and arrested three persons for thrashing employees of three cellular companies when technical staff removed an un-authorised high frequency transmitter installed by militants on a cellphone tower early this month.
Police have registered a case under Arms Act and robbery and picked up three suspects for questioning. Sources said that sections under Wirless and Telegraph Act will be added to the case once the device that was installed on the tower is established.
Police are questioning the three suspects about thrashing of employees of Vodaphone, Aircel and Airtel in Sopore early this month on May 2. It may be mentioned here that militants had installed a high frequency transmitter on a mobile tower in Badami Bagh area of Sopore town. The tower was being shared by Vodaphone, Aircel and Airtel cellular companies.
Militants who were carrying pistols with them also beat up the staff of the cellphone companies and snatched I-card and laptop of one of the employees of Aircel at Main Chowk Sopore.
Sources said that the employees of the cellular companies will also be summoned for questioning about the incident. However, the cellular companies have not lodged any complaint with the police due to fear of being targeted.
The militants targeted the offices of the three cellular companies after the engineering staff reportedly discovered a device at the transmitting tower which was not installed by the company. They removed the device which was a high frequency transmitter installed unauthorisedly by militants.
Police and other security agencies feel the incident is of serious nature as mobile phone towers are installed throughout the length and breadth the State and could be misused by the militants.
It is not yet clear what device was installed on the tower but sources said it might have been some communication device which would have boosted the internet facility as militants don’t use cell phones for communication after they were being traced through them. They mostly rely on internet for communication.
They are using improved communication technologies which is difficult for security agencies to detect. Their reliance on radio sets and cell phones is a bare minimal. A lot of the communication is happening on Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and over Skype . For this they need internet facility.
In the meantime, posters written in Urdu appeared in Sopore this evening threatening the cell-phone operators to shut down their cell phone towers or they will be uprooted.
They have asked the operators to shut down their business and threatened the shopkeepers who are re-charging cell phones. They have asked them not to re-charge cell phones.
Army’s 22 RR and Speical Operations Group of Jammu and Kashmir Police in Sopore have cordoned off Rahim Sahib Mohalla and are conducting searches for the militants who pasted posters in the area.
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