The Delhi Police on Sunday busted a well-entrenched spy ring of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) with the arrest of a serving Border Security Force (BSF) personnel and a suspected ISI operative. The two were allegedly trading secret and confidential information, posing a threat to national security.
The bust comes on the heels of arrests of three Trinamool Congress activists by the Special Task Force of Kolkata Police on Sunday on charges of spying for Pakistan. Of the three people taken into custody, one was a student leader and two others were active members of the INTTUC the labour arm of the Bengal ruling outfit. The arrests were made following interrogation of Ijaz an ISI agent who was on Friday apprehended from Meerut by the security forces.
Top Intelligence sources told The Pioneer, “Central security agencies have launched a massive operation to identify spy rings owing allegiance to the ISI. The recent arrest of an ISI operative from Meerut helped the agencies to identify the sympathisers and handlers across the country. Delhi Police’s arrest of two spies, including a serving BSF personnel from Jammu, is part of this ongoing hunt. The twin arrests were made by Delhi Police on the basis of a specific Intelligence input. The arrest of three people from West Bengal today is part of the nationwide hunt.”
The two people arrested by Delhi Police have been identified as Kafaitullah Khan alias Master Raja (44), a resident of Rajouri district in Jammu & Kashmir, and BSF Head Constable Abdul Rasheed, posted in the Intelligence wing of the BSF in the same district.
“They were arrested from Jammu railway station on the basis of an Intelligence input. Khan is a handler of Pakistan Intelligence Operative (PIO) and Rasheed was one of his chief sources. The espionage racket run by them is supported by Pakistan’s ISI,” said Ravindra Singh Yadav, the Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch.
Yadav added that the duo has been arrested under various provisions of IPC and Official Secrets Act.
Based on tip-offs about ongoing anti-national activities sponsored by PIO, which has a network consisting of civilian handlers and security forces personnel, Delhi Police’s Crime Branch planned a crackdown and a few suspects were identified, Yadav said.
On Thursday, Khan had boarded a train from Jammu and was about to leave for Bhopal. He was apprehended by a police team at the railway station there and “documents having implications on national security” were recovered from his possession, the Joint CP added.
Khan was put to sustained interrogation and he disclosed that he was working as library Assistant at Higher Secondary School, Manjakote. He had visited Pakistan in 2013 and during his stay there he came in contact with ISI agents. In lieu of monetary considerations he agreed to provide vital Defence information.
For this purpose, he cultivated sources in the Army and BSF and they started passing on the information to the PIO.
The information was passed through e-mail, WhatsApp and Viber. He was given specific tasks by the PIO, which were mainly concerning with the deployment of security forces and Air Force Operations.
He was already in touch with Abdul Rasheed, who is his relative and persuaded Rasheed to pass on sensitive information. Khan was taken into police custody and a team was sent to Rajouri to arrest his accomplices. A search has been conducted at the premises of Khan and Rasheed, which had led to recovery of important documents, the Joint CP further added.