The Dakar Gendarmerie Research Unit has arrested six foreign nationals in connection with a highly sophisticated telecommunications fraud case, marking a significant breakthrough in ongoing regional efforts to combat economic crime and offences involving information and communication technologies.
The successful law enforcement operation follows a formal complaint filed by national telecom operator SONATEL, which reported the existence of an intricate fraudulent scheme designed to covertly divert international SMS traffic onto the local network, a practice that was causing massive financial losses to the operator.
According to authorities, joint technical investigations conducted by gendarmes and SONATEL experts successfully led to the identification of a suspicious operations site in the Ngor area of Dakar. A subsequent targeted intervention by security forces resulted in the immediate arrest of the six foreign suspects and the seizure of a substantial quantity of specialized electronic hardware used to run the illicit system.
Among the confiscated items were laptops, GSM gateways commonly known as SIM box devices, GSM modems, internet routers, Voice over IP (VoIP) communication units, and several mobile phones. In addition, law enforcement officers recovered a large number of SIM cards from various network operators, alongside multiple digital storage devices and miscellaneous computer accessories. The judicial investigation remains ongoing as authorities work to determine the full scope of the criminal network and identify any other accomplices involved in the case.
TE/lb/abj/APA