Six individuals, of which one is a woman, have been arrested in Ghaziabad, allegedly capturing footage of sensitive places and sending the clip to a foreign number, which is connected to Pakistan, police officials said on Sunday. The suspects are also alleged to take pictures and videos of security facilities, investigative bodies and busy social places like railway stations and transmit the content to foreign countries.
The accused have been identified as Suhail Malik (23) of Bijnor, Praveen (19), Sane Iram alias Mehek(25) of Kaushambi in Ghaziabad, Raj Valmiki (19) of Auraiya, Shiva Valmiki and Ritik Gangwar (23) of Badaun and Shahjahanpur respectively according to the police.
The arrests were carried out in the Bhowapur area of Ghaziabad, said the police, on a tip off by authorities that there was a group of people filming sensitive and crowded places with mobile phones. In the process of interrogation, the investigators searched the electronic devices of the suspects and allegedly discovered that they had received several images and videos, which they had sent to a foreign phone number.
The officials claimed that the used number was a country code of Pakistan. According to the preliminary findings, Suhail Malik supposedly recruited the others and gave them the work associated with the gathering and distribution of the information.
The investigators also found out that the group had installed a CCTV camera in New Delhi, which was solar powered, part of what they were suspected of doing to spy. The police are currently trying to find out the specific source of the foreign number as well as the operator and also to establish whether the case has an extended network.