Army personnel, his associate held in Punjab on espionage charge

Chandigarh: An army personnel posted in Jammu and his aide have been arrested for their alleged involvement in espionage activities linked to Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), a top Punjab Police officer on Sunday.

Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said one of the accused has been identified as Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Dhariwal in Amritsar serving in the Indian Army in Jammu. His associate has been identified as Sahil Masih who also belongs to Dhariwal, the police chief said.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Singh was in direct contact with operatives of the ISI and is suspected of sharing sensitive and confidential information via pen drives, he said.

In an intelligence-led operation, police arrested Gurpreet and Masih, while they were attempting another handover of sensitive data, the DGP said, adding that the key ISI handler involved in the case has been identified as Rana Javed.

The DGP said two mobile phones containing virtual numbers, used to communicate with ISI operatives, have been recovered from both the accused. Further investigations are underway to dismantle the broader espionage-terror network and identify all collaborators in this case, Yadav added.

Sharing more details, Senior Superintendent of Police (Amritsar Rural) Maninder Singh claimed that Gurpreet, who was recruited by the Army in 2016, systematically exploited his official position to collect, store and transmit classified military information via pen drives and discs.

The espionage network was facilitated by an acquaintance identified as Arjan, a Dubai-based drug trafficker from Dhariwal, who introduced Gurpreet to ISI operatives five months ago, he alleged.

Since then, Gurpreet has actively engaged in the unauthorised collection and relay of sensitive military data to the ISI using pre-decided drop locations, the DGP said.

In lieu of this espionage activity, Gurpreet was receiving monetary compensation through a complex financial network involving intermediary bank accounts of friends, relatives, and foreign associates to evade detection, he informed reporters.

A case under the Official Secrets Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has been registered at the Lopoke police station in Amritsar.