How call to girlfriend led to arrest of serial cybercrime accused from Sikkim

Wayanad: A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of police arrested Salmanul Faris (26), who belongs to Kavilumpara, Thottilpalam in Kozhikode district, from Gangtok, Sikkim. The man is wanted in several cybercrime cases. Faris had escaped police custody after attacking the sleuths on July 9.

Once taken into custody from Kolkata, Faris had escaped while being ferried on a train in Andhra Pradesh. The team who had him detained was en route to Kerala at the time, police said.

With many cases registered against him, including some under investigation and some in the warrant stage, the accused is not only wanted in cases in various districts of Kerala but also in many other states, in connection with cyberfrauds. Arrest warrants were issued for him by various courts, police said.

The SIT headed by additional superintendent of police Vinod Pillai was constituted under instructions of Wayanad superintendent of police Padam Singh. Split into various groups, the SIT had been on the search for the accused in Bengaluru, parts of Andhra Pradesh, and also in Kolkata for many days.

After covering almost 9,000 km and seven states, at long last, the breakthrough came as the cops traced the whereabouts of the accused when he made a call from his new mobile number to his friend, a Bengali girl. Acting on the tip-off from the cyber cell, police tracked the location of the youth and arrested him.

To avoid the public, Faris had led the life of a recluse, cutting himself off completely from the public domain. His arrest, police hope, will lead to the cracking of many 'written off' cybercrimes. SIT members who nabbed him include cyber police station inspector Shaju Joseph, Padinjarethara sub inspector Sherafudheen, additional SI Biju Varghese, police personnel C K Noufal, K K Vipin among others. Produced at the judicial first class magistrate court, Kalpetta, Faris has been remanded to judicial custody.