News Delhi: In a major setback for the country, three officers of India's external spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) have 'willingly' disappeared. All these defections took place in last three months.

According to a report in the Sunday Guardian, all three of them are now likely to be in a large Western country, which has a history of accepting and facilitating such disappearances of Indian intelligence officers.

The Cabinet Secretariat, the controlling body of the RAW, remains tight-lipped on the issue. Several emails seeking its response on the issue did not get any acceptance or denial from the body.

All three officers, one of whom was posted at a senior level, had already shifted their families that western country before disappearing. The news report says that two of these officers were looking after South Asian countries whereas, the third officer was handling a large East Asian country.

It is feared that all these officers had been working for this western country for a long time and may had passed on several vital informations to them.