Pak spy was trying to get info for a possible terror strike: Official

New Delhi, October 28

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The Pakistan High Commission official accused of spying may have been trying to gather classified information on Indian security forces along the western coast for a militant strike similar to the 2008 Mumbai attack, an official of the Home Ministry said on Friday.

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Mehmood Akhtar was trying to gather information pertaining to deployment of security forces along the western coast, Sir Creek and Kutch areas and also about military installations in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa, a Home Ministry official said.

"There have been intelligence inputs that Pakistan's ISI was planning to send terrorists through the sea route to carry out a Mumbai-type terror attack in India. Akhtar's activities and his interests to gather information about the western coast buttress the intelligence inputs," the official said.

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More than 160 people died when 10 gunmen struck mayhem for three days in Mumbai in November 2008. The gunmen had come to Mumbai from Karachi by sea.

Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir were handing over information to Akhtar about security forces deployment in the Sir Creek area and Kutch region when they were arrested on Friday.

The Pakistani official was to hand over the duo Rs 50,000 for getting information, the official said.

Before being let off because of diplomatic immunity, Akhtar confessed to police about his role in the spy ring.

Delhi Police also had a recorded video of his statement.

In his statement to police, Akhtar admitted that he was part of the spy ring for more than a year.

He has named a few officers of the Pakistani High Commission to whom he had reported the information he collected but police have no direct evidence and therefore have yet to take action.

Acting on a tip-off, Delhi Police on Friday nabbed Akhtar, along with Ramzan and Jangir, at Delhi Zoo while a visa agent from Rajasthan, Shoaib, had managed to escape.

Shoaib was detained near Jodhpur last evening and after being brought here, he was arrested.

India declared Akhtar persona non grata on Thursday. Subhash and Maulana have been arrested on charges of passing on sensitive information and defence documents and deployment details of BSF along the Indo-Pak border. They were sent to 12-day police custody.

A local court remanded them to police custody for 12 days. Akhtar enjoys diplomatic immunity but has been asked to leave India. — PTI