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Indian exam cheats hid devices in sandals during tests to qualify as teachers

  • India’s fiercely competitive teaching exams are taken by millions of aspiring educators
  • One group in Rajasthan state hoped to get around snapped internet access with Bluetooth devices hidden in the soles of their sandals

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A slipper with a concealed Bluetooth device confiscated by police. Photo: AFP

Ten people have been arrested in India for planning to cheat in fiercely competitive teaching exams using Bluetooth devices concealed in their slippers, police said.

Exam-cheating has long been a problem in India and, for Sunday’s government exams involving 1.6 million students in Rajasthan state, police had permission to snap mobile internet access while the tests lasted.

But one group planned to get around this with devices hidden in the soles of their flip-flop sandals that could receive ordinary calls which would be transmitted wirelessly to tiny receivers hidden in their ears.

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The plan was for accomplices outside to call the hidden contraptions and dictate the correct answers to the exams, said Priti Chandra, a police official in the western city of Bikaner.

But the group of would-be teachers were arrested acting suspiciously outside the examination hall on the evening before the exams and the devices in their footwear were discovered.

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