The police informed that, more than 500 employees of some call centres were detained after a major raid for allegedly threatening the US citizens and siphoning off their money in Mira Road area.

According to the police, more than 200 police personnel, mostly from the Crime Branch, carried the raid late last night and continued in the wee hours today.

The police said that, the persons operated from call centres in Mira Road locality, which comes under the jurisdiction of Thane Rural Police, and posed as officials of U.S. Tax Department, which is equivalent to the Income Tax Department in India.

The employees would call up the US citizens and demand their financial and bank details, failing which they would allegedly threaten them with dire consequences, including legal action.

Police added that, after obtaining the requisite details from the American citizens, these call centre employees would siphon off money from their accounts,  adding daily turnover of such dealings was estimated to be over Rs 1 crore.

Based on complaints received of these activities , police kept a tab on the call centre employees and subsequently raided their premises late last night.

The process of registering offence in the matter was on, while the further details of the racket were awaited.

Also Read: India joins Paris Climate change agreement, Obama tweets praise, Ban Ki-moon says 'dhanyawad'

Nandini