Bhopal: Eleven people allegedly connected to an espionage racket being run from Pakistan to collect strategic information were picked up from various places in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday. One of them, identified as Balram, was picked up from Satna, five from Gwalior, three from Bhopal and two from Jabalpur, state Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Sanjeev Shami told reporters here. However, he did not disclose the names of the other 10 people, saying it will hamper investigations. The MP police zeroed in on Balram following investigations in connection with the arrest of Satvinder Singh and Dadu along the RS Pura sector on the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir for sharing secret information of strategic interest stations to their overseas handlers in November last year, Shami said.
The two had reportedly revealed that they were gathering secret information regarding the locations of the Army and other security forces, and sharing the same with Pakistan on a social networking app. Money was frequently deposited through ‘hawala’ transactions in the accounts of Balram with fictitious names by oversea handlers, who held communication with them in a hush-hush manner, Shami said.
The handlers also had talks with these persons with different modern secretive techniques of communication to hide identities, the ATS chief said, adding some tele-communication companies’ staffers too were hand in glove with them. They were also involved in lottery frauds, he said. Different agencies are working together to bust the entire espionage racket, Sham said, adding more detentions might take place in different parts of the country.