A man from the town of Pathankot has been arrested by the Punjab police for allegedly sharing real-time footage of military movements near a strategic highway with handlers across the border and spying on Pakistan’s behalf.
The accused, Baljit Singh, of Chakk Dhariwal village in Pathankot in Punjab, was allegedly working under the instructions of Pakistan handlers and an anonymous man in Dubai. Investigators say Singh had set up an Internet connected CCTV camera at a roadside shop near a road bridge on the National Highway-44, one of the main links between Pathankot and Jammu.
Police officials said the camera was set up intelligently to keep an eye on the Indian Army and para-military convoys that pass through the area. Singh, during interrogation, had said that he had installed the surveillance system in January this year and got paid about ₹40,000 for operating it.
During the investigation, the authorities recovered the CCTV camera and other equipment. Initial tests indicate that the device could send live images via the internet – a potentially significant security issue.
The arrest comes as part of the intensified surveillance by the police after the recent exposure of various espionage modules by the police in Punjab, which were allegedly established by the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI. Last month, the counter-intelligence agencies have found two parallel spy networks allegedly connected to the ISI from Pakistan. Investigators found two high tech CCTV cameras that were made in China with the ability to receive signals with USB devices and 4G cell phone technology for the purposes of transmitting sensitive military activities to handlers in Pakistan.
Security agencies are now investigating if Singh was involved in any of the previously unbroken espionage networks or was a part of a bigger spying plan on Indian defense installations.