JAISALMER: In a crackdown named Operation Sarhad, the state intelligence wing has detained 36 suspected spies from border areas of Jaisalmer, Barmer and Jodhpur. Of these, seven have been sent to Jaipur and Jodhpur for further interrogation and investigation.
Intelligence wing DG, Umesh Mishra said that Pakistan's prime intelligence agency ISI and Pakistani intelligence operative (PIO) were making extensive efforts to get confidential and strategic details from their spies through phone calls on pseudo names.
Mishra said that to control such incidents, Operation Sarhad was launched in three stages in the border districts. Around 50 officers and employees of the special branch Jaipur and CID zone Jaisalmer and Jodhpur were involved in identifying such people, who stayed in or near cantonment and sensitive areas in Jaisalmer, Barmer and Jodhpur, and were actively in contact with ISI or PIO. The team collected the data and sent for a detailed probe to interrogation centres in Jaisalmer, Barmer and Jodhpur.
Mishra appealed to the general public to be cautious of strangers on social media platforms and inform the nearest security agencies about suspicious people.
They can be members of PIO and ISI active on social media under pseudo names to build harmony and then demand for photos, videos and other information related to India’s defence and national security.
ADG S Sengathir said that during the inquiry, it was confirmed that all the detainees were in contact with PIO and ISI. Technical equipment, including mobile phones, were seized and sent to FSL for analysis.
Intelligence sources said that ISI and PIO have activated their sleeping cells and spies to get information under fake names. Four days ago an inspector of CID intelligence at Pokhran received a call from across the border in the name of an army colonel to get information about the Pokhran range.
In the last few weeks, sarpanchs of border villages, public representatives and other important people around Pokhran range received calls from across the border about the defence operational activities. The IAF’s fire power exercise, Operation Vayu Shakti, is to be organised at Pokhran’s Chandan on March 7. Sources said Pak agencies were trying to get sensitive information about the IAF exercise.
