Satellite phone intercept sends Army to look for terror moles

Vijay Mohan, Ruchika M. Khanna & Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh/New Delhi, August 1

An intercepted overseas call from a banned satellite phone service provider to a recipient located near Jalandhar has prompted a security hunt for the unauthorised use of such an instrument. 

The service provider has been identified as Thuraya, a firm based in the United Arab Emirates, which was also used by Pakistani terrorists in the Mumbai attacks in November 2009. The use of Thuraya satellite phones is specifically prohibited in India under the Indian Wireless Telegraph Act. 

The "suddenness" of the attack and the call interception has led to suspicion that these could be an attempt to revive Pakistan's "K2" (Kashmir and Khalistan) agenda. The army and Punjab Police have gone on a high alert and launched a joint operation in Punjab to thwart any possible "after shocks" of the Gurdaspur attack. Sources said the call was intercepted three days ago by an Army signals unit and the information was passed to the state police and intelligence agencies. Several agencies monitor wireless signals, including satellite and cellular calls, but it's the local police that has to verify the location and user of such calls.

The assessment of the security establishment is that five persons had crossed over for the Gurdaspur attack. While three were killed in the Dinanagar police station attack, the whereabouts of the other two are unknown. 

Sources said following intercepts of a satellite phone conversation, the Army and the state police have launched a "sanitisation" drive in in two districts — Nawanshahr and Jalandhar — strategically located on the national highway. 

This is the preferred route for movement of trucks and other public and private transportation from J&K towards Delhi and beyond, government sources said.  A liaison meeting was held between Army officers and the Punjab Police on Friday. Jalandhar-based 11 Corps, including an officer of the rank of a Brigadier, were part of this operation with the Nawanshahr police.  While the joint operation was originally said to be a confidence building measure, sources say the Jammu-Delhi stretch with a substantial Gujjar habitation is being sanitised. 

Sources said, GPS sets recovered from the terrorists neutralised in J&K, particularly in Jammu-Sambha region, had route coordinates fed into them, which coincided with Gujjar locations.