Since January this year, a special taskforce set up to clamp down on SIM Box fraud has made seven major arrests in Accra saving the country millions of dollars, police have revealed.

The taskforce, made up of a team of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and tech-savvy firm, Subah Info Solutions, has saved the state some 77 million dollars since 2014 when the operation started, said a police.

At a press briefing  on Tuesday – following the latest bust at Adjiringano in Accra on April 29, 2016 – Director General of the CID, COP Prosper Agblorh, revealed about 30 people involved in the fraudulent activity have also been arrested.

“The taskforce will not relent on its effort to use the most advanced technology as well as legitimate methods and legal means to thwart their economic-sabotaging activities. We will ensure their criminal enterprise will not be successful,” said COP Agblorh.

SIM box fraudsters install SIM boxes with multiple low-cost prepaid SIM cards, and then terminate international calls through local phone numbers in the respective country to make it appear as if the call is a local call.

COP Agblorh said the taskforce has intensified the crackdown on SIM box Fraud since the beginning of the year after successful interceptions in 2014 and 2015 which resulted in saving several millions of dollars in revenue to the country.

With technical support from Subah Infosolutions, the taskforce has deployed better detection systems to catch the criminals although they have also stepped their stealth systems by employing sophisticated equipment, COP Agblorh said.

Items seized in the seven arrests include SIM box machines, huge quantities of sim cards batteries, routers, guns and cartridges.