Houthis collect $1.6 million per month from smuggling international calls

In its fifth report on the Houthis’ control of the telecommunications sector in Yemen, the "Regine Yemen" organization revealed the involvement of the Houthi’s Security and Intelligence Service in smuggling international calls, and reaping millions of dollars annually, despite the militias harnessing all profits.

The TeleYemen company in Yemen is connected with all countries of the world, and when international calls come to Yemen, they pass through TeleYemen, then TeleYemen distributes those calls to their destination in the various telephone companies operating in Yemen, so that the profits of those calls are distributed to various telephone companies after TeleYemen takes its share of those profits.

According to Yemeni law, smuggling international calls without going through TeleYemen is a crime.

Ways of smuggling international calls

There are several ways to smuggle international calls via the Internet using E1link voice channels, and there are many of these channels in Yemen, up to 1200 voice channels directly connected through the Internet in several places, including Dar Al Bashaer in Sana’a, where the Security and Intelligence Service is located. One of the devices used to smuggle international calls is SIMBOX.

Who is smuggling international calls in Yemen?

The Security and Intelligence Agency of the Houthis is involved in smuggling international calls, and collecting sums estimated at millions of dollars annually. Houthi experts, led by Muhammad Ahmed Al Ezzi, are supervising 630 communications channels affiliated with the Houthi apparatus in order to systematically smuggle international calls.

Documents obtained by Regain Yemen show that more than 600,000 minutes of international calls were smuggled daily, at a price of 8 US cents, with an average income of $1.6 million per month.

Those in power in national security exploit the interconnection between the Houthi National Security Agency and telecom companies for wiretapping. Through this connection, they pass smuggled international calls away from TeleYemen and share those funds among themselves with their accomplices in TeleYemen.

The smuggling operation confirms the Houthis' use of the company and the rest of the public sector institutions for the personal enrichment and to carry out suspicious acts.