Man, honeytrapped by Pakistan's ISI for spying, arrested in Amritsar

Amritsar: An Indian man, working for Pakistan intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has been arrested during joint operations of intelligence agencies and police on Thursday. 

Ravi Kumar, was recruited by ISI nearly seven months ago via social media platform Facebook. 

The State Special Operations Cell (SSOC) conducted a joint operation with millitary intelligence.  

Kumar has been booked under Official Secrets Act and some sections of the Indian Penal Code or IPC.

On the basis of specific information, a team of SSOC led by Inspector Gurinderpal Singh arrested Kumar from the Chatiwind police station area in Amritsar district, the Punjab Police said.

Kumar shared crucial information related to the movement of "Army units, construction of new bunkers on the Indian side of the border, photographs of Army vehicles and their formation signs, exercises and trainings and activity/construction", a statement from police read.

Photographs of vital installations, hand-made maps of restricted areas, photocopies of restricted training manuals of the Army and information regarding Army attack formations were recovered from him, according to a Punjab Police release.

Kumar's ISI handlers sponsored his visit to Dubai from February 20 to 24 where he was briefed regarding tasks, the Punjab Police said.

Investigations have revealed that Kumar was in regular touch with Pakistani intelligence officers through mobile phones and Internet and was provided funds routed through Dubai.

The release read: "It has also come to light that Pakistan-based agencies operate a large number of fake Facebook accounts in the name of young girls who actively try to befriend with unemployed young people and retired/serving officials in the armed force and subsequently try to allure them into espionage activities."

Investigations are being conducted to identify and track such fake accounts. Defence establishments are also being appraised regarding this new threat for necessary action at their end, it said. 

With agency inputs