How spy rings operate out of Pakistan missions in India and Sri Lanka

India

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New Delhi, Oct 27: First a consular officer in the Pakistan mission in Sri Lanka and now a staffer at the Visa department in Delhi.

The detention and subsequent release of Mehmood Akthar, an officer in the visa department of the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi has once again raised doubts about the country's intentions towards India.

Towards the end of 2014, Indian Intelligence officials had successfully managed to bust a module and spy ring operating within the Pakistan High Commission in Sri Lanka.

The job of creating a spy ring and then launching a 26/11 styled attack in Chennai was handed over to the consular officer in Sri Lanka, Amir Zubair Siddiqui.

Spies in the Pakistan high commission:

Intelligence Bureau officials explain that the ISI picks people out of their agency and sends them to the high commissions. The job assigned to them is to build up a network of spies and gather as much sensitive information as possible. If one were to look at the Sri Lanka case, then it went beyond spying.

In the Sri Lanka case, it was found that the consular officer, Siddiqui had not only built up a network of spies to gather information on India, but also set up a full fledged module. It was also found that he had hired several Sri Lankan Muslims to carry out reconnaissance in South India.

Read more: How the spy ring in the Pakistan Mission was busted?

The tip off about a major attack being planned in Chennai came following the arrest of two persons in Chennai by the National Investigation.

One of the persons arrested who operated under the name Arun spilled the beans about the entire modus operandi. He revealed that it was Siddiqui in the high commission who had ordered this operation.

Further probing also revealed that Siddiqui's job was to set up a full fledged module in South India apart. It was also learnt that he had brought in a charity outfit to open shop in Sri Lanka so that a base for the Lashkar-e-Tayiba could be built.

India had sought action against Siddiqui and had even moved to question him. However Pakistan immediately took him out of the mission and packed him off home.

If one were to go deep into today's Delhi case, it becomes clear that this was an operation being planned since early 2015. Akthar, a hawaldar in the Baloch regiment was sent to India and directed to work in the Visa section in the Pakistan High Commission.

He had over a period of time built up a network of spies comprising Indians and gathered sensitive information on the defence from them.

In 2015 the arrest of five persons including a non-commissioned officer in the Air Force revealed that a module was being operated from New Delhi.

The detention of Akthar and his subsequent release led to the arrest of two spies from Rajasthan. Another person reporting to Akthar identified of Shoaib too will be arrested soon, the Delhi police say.

OneIndia News