Hyderabad: The West Zone task force police busted a gang that provided impersonators for candidates taking the online Test of English as a Foreign Language (Toefl) and arrested 11 persons.

Six candidates and three impersonators were arrested at the IP Zone testing facility at Vikrampuri Colony in Secunderabad. Two of the candidates were from Gujarat and one from Tamil Nadu. The candidates had paid Rs 1 lakh each for the service.

Toefl is a standardised English language proficiency test for non-native English language speakers applying in US universities. Task force DCP B. Limba Reddy said the police arrested Sheik Wajjid Basha and Iftequaruddin. who arranged the impersonators.

Basha, 36, is the proprietor of IP Zone (Testing Facility) and Iftequaruddin alias Afroz, 32, is the administration in-charge. The impersonators were identified as web developer Mohd. Rafi Ahmed Taha, 30, Bupesh Sharma, 28, and S. Rama Krishna, 36, training manager at Genpact.

Two of the candidates were from the city Md. Abdul Rasheed, 23, of Rajendranagar and Mohd Sarfaraz Hussain, 28, of Charminar and S. Kanishka, 24, came from Guntur district. Vishnu Bhai Patel, 19, of Ahmedabad; Krupal Kumar Patel, 24, of Gandhinagar, both in Gujarat, and Anathar, 35, physiotherapist from TN were the others arrested.