The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force on Monday arrested 16 people in connection with cheating during the Uttar Pradesh Police Constable Recruitment examination, PTI reported. The people were arrested from Gorakhpur and Allahabad, Inspector General of Police, STF, Amitabh Yash told PTI.

The two-day examination began on Monday across 860 centres in 56 districts.

One of the arrested has reportedly confessed to taking money from candidates for hiring people who would impersonate them in the exams. “The modus operandi was that one person sitting in the exam hall will immediately send pictures of the question paper to the solvers, who would then provide answers through a spy mic,” senior police officer Nitin Tiwari told NDTV. “Prima facie, solvers charged Rs 5 lakh per candidate.”

Identity cards of a dozen candidates and around Rs 4 lakh in cash was recovered from the arrested, PTI quoted a police spokesperson as saying. The police said raids were under way to arrest more people related to the racket.

Special Task Force Inspector General Amitabh Yash said many of the arrested were proxy students with forged documents. Yash added that the candidates strapped mobile phones “in places where they can’t be checked”, NDTV reported.