Punjab Police apprehended a man from Pathankot town on suspicion of spying for handlers based in Pakistan. The accused, Baljit Singh, disclosed that the operation was overseen by a handler in Dubai, who paid him Rs 40,000 for his espionage activities. This marks the third cross-border espionage network dismantled by the police in under a month.
Baljit Singh, hailing from Chakk Dhariwal village, had set up a CCTV camera at a shop along National Highway 44 to monitor the movements of army and paramilitary forces. He was then streaming the live footage to his contacts in Pakistan. The accused admitted to his actions during interrogation, mentioning that he had installed the internet-based CCTV camera earlier this year.
Senior Superintendent of Police Daljinder Singh Dhillon stated that Baljit Singh was divulging critical movement information from the Sujanpur highway stretch. The accused, allegedly driven by a drug addiction, engaged in these activities to sustain his habit. The investigation has revealed the identities of three of his associates, with more arrests anticipated in the case.
In a recent development, Punjab Police had dismantled two espionage modules supported by ISI, utilizing advanced Chinese CCTV cameras to relay sensitive military locations’ feeds to handlers in Pakistan. The Counter Intelligence Jalandhar team uncovered one module, seizing a Chinese CCTV camera and a USB-connected solar plate with 4G capabilities from the operative. Another module was disrupted by Kapurthala police in collaboration with a central agency, resulting in the arrest of two individuals and the recovery of four mobile phones linked to foreign handlers.
