Cops on alert after satellite phone found active in Kumbh area

PRAYAGRAJ: The Kumbh police, Anti-Terrorist Squad teams and intelligence officials are on alert after receiving inputs about an active satellite phone in the Kumbh mela area.

After receiving the inputs on Saturday, the ATS teams and intelligence officials tried to trace the phone through surveillance experts, but failed. The teams also went towards Sarai Inayat in trans-Ganga area, which was the last traced location of the phone, but didn’t get any clues.

Following the Pulwama attack, police and paramilitary personnel have also increased the security in and around the mela area. Besides checking vehicles, security personnel are also using electronic surveillance to intercept suspicious calls.

On Saturday, Kumbh police was alerted by intelligence sleuths about an active satellite phone in the mela area. ATS teams traced the last location of the phone in Sarai Inayat area of trans-Ganga, but no suspicious person or activities were found in the area.

Police suspect that foreign tourists often use satellite phones without informing the local authorities. However, the location of the satellite phone in remote rural area of Sarai Inayat is unusual.

A senior ATS official admitted that a satellite phone was used in Kumbh area without informing the local officials. The user may be a foreign tourist and will be traced soon, he added.

IG Range Mohit Agarwal said primary inputs suggested the use of a satellite phone. Police teams have been engaged to trace the activity in the mela area, he added. Two days ago, Kumbh police arrested a Bangladeshi national loitering in the mela area. Interrogation revealed that he had crossed the border illegally. The Bangladeshi national identified as Bablu Rai claimed that he came to meet a seer.

An FIR was lodged against him under relevant sections, following which he was sent to Naini jail.