<div>The uncovering of an espionage ring within Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), along with inputs of a possible threat, led to heightened security at the leading defence supplier.<br /><br />The move comes a day before Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is to meet chief ministers of coastal states and Union territories.<br /><br />GRSE, India’s leading suppliers of warships to the Navy and Coast Guard, had 397 Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel deployed from Wednesday at its facility by the banks of river Hooghly, close to the city’s docks. The defence installation increased its security cover in the wake of security agencies busting an espionage ring at GRSE in November, officials said.<br /><br />Sources said the Cabinet Committee on Security approved the move in May to ensure there was no further security breach at GRSE. On November 29, 2015, Kolkata Police’s Special Task Force arrested three persons, including 51-year-old Irshad Ansari, a contract labourer with the defence supplier. He, along with his son and his brother-in-law, were held on charges of illegally collecting data from inside GRSE.<br /><br />Allegedly backed by Pakistani intelligence agency ISI, they took photographs of vessels that were then being built under commission from the Navy. The sprawling GRSE campus, which stretches over a few acres, holds blueprints to around 100 warships the Defence Ministry commissioned in recent times, along with designs of ones currently being developed.<br /><br />Sources said intelligence agencies reported a potential security threat to GRSE as Ansari infiltrated the facility. Although the Centre is yet to officially confirm the move, sources said the CISF contingent will be stationed at GRSE and will function like a Quick Reaction Team, with heavily-armed personnel manning the campus round-the-clock and supervising its access points.<br /><br />GRSE has already set up infrastructure for an armoury, barracks and a control room for the squad, which is being headed by an officer with the rank of commandant. Sources said that after the espionage ring was uncovered in November, GRSE Chairman-Managing Director Rear Admiral (Retired) A K Verma had urged the Defence Ministry to deploy CISF personnel at the facility. <br /></div>
<div>The uncovering of an espionage ring within Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), along with inputs of a possible threat, led to heightened security at the leading defence supplier.<br /><br />The move comes a day before Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is to meet chief ministers of coastal states and Union territories.<br /><br />GRSE, India’s leading suppliers of warships to the Navy and Coast Guard, had 397 Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel deployed from Wednesday at its facility by the banks of river Hooghly, close to the city’s docks. The defence installation increased its security cover in the wake of security agencies busting an espionage ring at GRSE in November, officials said.<br /><br />Sources said the Cabinet Committee on Security approved the move in May to ensure there was no further security breach at GRSE. On November 29, 2015, Kolkata Police’s Special Task Force arrested three persons, including 51-year-old Irshad Ansari, a contract labourer with the defence supplier. He, along with his son and his brother-in-law, were held on charges of illegally collecting data from inside GRSE.<br /><br />Allegedly backed by Pakistani intelligence agency ISI, they took photographs of vessels that were then being built under commission from the Navy. The sprawling GRSE campus, which stretches over a few acres, holds blueprints to around 100 warships the Defence Ministry commissioned in recent times, along with designs of ones currently being developed.<br /><br />Sources said intelligence agencies reported a potential security threat to GRSE as Ansari infiltrated the facility. Although the Centre is yet to officially confirm the move, sources said the CISF contingent will be stationed at GRSE and will function like a Quick Reaction Team, with heavily-armed personnel manning the campus round-the-clock and supervising its access points.<br /><br />GRSE has already set up infrastructure for an armoury, barracks and a control room for the squad, which is being headed by an officer with the rank of commandant. Sources said that after the espionage ring was uncovered in November, GRSE Chairman-Managing Director Rear Admiral (Retired) A K Verma had urged the Defence Ministry to deploy CISF personnel at the facility. <br /></div>
