The pirate station equipment is not so expensive, and in fact, petty phreakers use it pretty frequently to do basic SMS frauds in heavily populated areas. Maidan protesters have found themselves on a receiving end of false-station SMS frauds since November, so we know for a _fact_ that criminals do operate them.
The government could as well, of course, but I'm going by an Occam razor here.
The government could as well, of course, but I'm going by an Occam razor here.