The US Secret Service has uncovered and neutralized a network of devices capable of shutting down New York City’s entire cellular network, the agency said Tuesday. The network, the agency said, was behind a wave of swatting calls that targeted government officials earlier this year.

The scale of the scheme sounds staggering. The Secret Service said that its agents seized more than 100,000 SIM cards and 300 SIM servers, spread across five different safe houses in or around the city. All were unoccupied, though authorities also seized 80 grams of cocaine, illegal firearms, as well as computers and cell phones.

One official who chose to remain anonymous told the New York Times that the network could send 30 million text messages per minute. The criminal operation was so extensive, the unnam

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