Suspected Pakistani spy arrested in India says he entered through Bangladesh

A Pakistani national in his early 30s suspected to be an agent of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has been arrested in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

News Deskbdnews24.com
Published : 28 Nov 2015, 04:28 AM
Updated : 28 Nov 2015, 04:28 AM

UP police Inspector-General Sujit Pandey told the 'Times of India' newspaper that the man had already relayed classified information about military establishments and the movement of Army units to his Pakistan handlers.

"He sneaked into India from Bangladesh on Feb 9, 2013," Pandey said. "He had come to Dhaka from Pakistan in January that year."

Pandey said Mohammed Ejaz revealed during interrogation that he was sent from Karachi to Dhaka on January 31, 2013.

"He was received in Dhaka by a man named ‘Probin’, who enabled his travel by boat to West Bengal and dropped him at the house of Mohammad Irshad, a resident of Matiya Burj (Kolkata) in West Bengal."

Irshad and his son Ashraf, aided by a relative, helped Ejaz get a fake junior high school certificate, a voter ID and a ration card, the police official said after interrogating the Pakistani national.

"These documents were used to open an account with the Central Bank of India."

In West Bengal, he took up work as a videographer and married a woman from Ara district in Bihar. The man then lived in Bihar for a few months before moving to Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh in December 2014.

At Bareilly, he began his spying assignment, working on a day job as a freelance video mixer. He got a fake Aadhar card (India's unique identification card) made, showing his original address in Bihar. In his Aadhar card, his name is shown as Mohammad Kalam.

The surveillance network received a tip-off on Friday, with the information that he would be boarding a train to Delhi at 3pm from the Meerut Cantonment station.

Acting on that information, the man was nabbed, Inspector General Pandey said.

Pandey said Ejaz has already handed over classified information to his Pakistani handlers on the movement of the Sukhoi 30 combat aircraft and their hangars.

"He had information about the anti-tank guided missile programme. He had in his possession video images of Mirage's emergency landing on Yamuna Expressway, the movement of the mountain brigade at Pithoragarh and information about an under-construction runway."

Ejaz's bank account in India showed transactions of more than Rs 600,000 in the last two years, says the 'Times of India'.

It said this money was transferred in instalments, once from Saudi Arabia then from Dubai.

The newspaper quoted intelligence officials as saying Ejaz had sent his handlers information on cantonments in Bareilly, Meerut, Agra, Pithoragarh, Shahjahanpur and Mathura.

"He was in contact with a man called Salim, an officer of the ISI. His family was receiving Rs 50,000 per month in Pakistan for his services."

The 'Times of India'  said that besides classified Army documents, sleuths in Meerut recovered a fake Aadhar card with a Bareilly address, a fake voter ID card made in West Bengal, a Delhi Metro traveller card and Nepali and Saudi currency from him.

His laptop, pen drive and ATM card have been seized. A NADRA card (Pakistani national identity card) was also found, Pandey said.