A total of ten persons have been arrested in India for allegedly planning to use Bluetooth devices concealed in their flip-flops to cheat in brutally competitive teaching exams, according to police.
In India, cribbing has long been an issue, and during Sunday’s government examinations, which involved 1.6 million pupils in the state of Rajasthan, authorities were given authorization to disable mobile internet access while the exams were taking place.
One group, on the other hand, planned to circumvent this by concealing devices in the bottoms of their flip-flops that could receive routine phone calls and transfer them wirelessly to tiny receivers disguised in their ears, according to the New York Times.
The aim was for accomplices outside to contact the disguised contraptions and dictate the proper answers to the examinations, according to Priti Chandra, a police official in Bikaner, a city in India’s western state of Rajasthan.
However, the gang of would-be teachers was apprehended outside the examination venue on the evening before the exams for acting suspiciously, and the devices hidden in their shoes were uncovered.
At least 25 students had purchased these flip-flops from a gang for 600,000 rupees ($8,100) per pair, according to Chandra. “We were aware of the possibility of cheating, but we assumed it would be through a question paper leak or someone using the internet, which is why the internet was restricted in many cities,” Chandra said.