Wine, women and wealth: How Pakistani agents target Indian nationals for spying
Over the past few weeks, ever since tensions between India and Pakistan spiked after the terrorist attack at Pahalgam that killed 26 people on April 22, several civilians have been arrested on charges of espionage.
These range from a cobbler to a businessman, from a student to a popular YouTuber.
On Monday, intelligence agencies busted another Pakistani spy network, with the arrest of a person from Nuh in Haryana. Over the past two days, this is the second arrest from Nuh on charges of espionage. Police say that all those arrested recently have been working for Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
According to intelligence officers, the prime bait for luring people into the world’s second oldest profession are the 3 Ws – wine, women and wealth.
There have also been instances of entrapment where a wrongdoing or corrupt practice has come to the notice of recruiters, which is then exploited.
“It’s the needy or the greedy who generally fall into the trap,” a former intelligence officer said. “Money is the most common reason for getting into this activity. At times religious sentiments are also targeted,” he added. Drug addicts and known criminals are also on the ISI’s radar.
Sources said that handlers, who could be an embassy official, as has been the case of a functionary of the Pakistan embassy in New Delhi who was expelled this month, or a person living in the target country under deep cover, control the spies.
As is a known modus operandi, an enemy agent may infiltrate into India and then gets a government ID like a vote card made. On the basis of this, other documents like Aadhaar and bank accounts are made. He then mingles into the local society, frequenting places like taverns, gambling dens or popular hangouts to scout for prospective recruits.
Similarly, Indian citizens visiting Pakistan may be approached and lured by their operatives, as seems to be the case of the Hisar-based YouTuber, Jyoti Rani who has twice travelled to Pakistan. The first contact, either in India or abroad, may not be a direct pitch for spying, but an apparently harmless conversation which may lead to further developments.
While the persons arrested recently are not government servants and may not have direct access to sensitive information or documents, what matters is that they may be in contact with persons who could, knowingly or unknowingly pass on sensitive information. Government employees are always high on intelligence agencies’ radar, though the approach to recruiting and handling such elements may be different.
“It could be that some of these persons may just be keeping a watch on routine activities taking place at certain establishments or public places, noting visits, troop movements, unit locations, aircraft flights, etc. They may even be able to take photographs or map certain locations,” the official said.
“All these are small pieces which may fit into a larger picture,” he added. It may not just be military information, but also sensitive political, economic, or socially relevant material that could be exploited.
While personal contact, as revealed in the case of Jyoti Rani, is an age-old practice of identifying and recruiting a potential spy, over the past few years the use of social media platforms and networking apps has increased considerably. Social media is also a powerful tool for data mining, culling up information such as contact details, locations, associates, current activity, etc. Call spoofing, malware, phishing, and malicious links are also used. Intelligence operatives, using a fake identity, very often that of a woman seeking friends or a broker dealing in investments, scout the internet, looking for targets and then begins what is simply a friend request or an innocuous query.
As information flow increases and confidence builds up, questions turn from being seemingly harmless and casual chit-chat to becoming more pointed and specific, making an individual susceptible to blackmail.
Honey-trapping through social media is well known. There have been cases in the past where service personnel or those working in sensitive establishments have been honey-trapped through the social media and caught by law enforcement agencies.
Operatives of hostile intelligence agencies are known to impersonate Indian military and civilian officials and make telephone calls to individuals, including unsuspecting family members or domestic staff, in an attempt to extract information such as the whereabouts of a particular officer or other associate information. In fact, even school students have been approached on pretexts such as fee refund or a reunion.
There is a strong link between espionage, smuggling, and terrorism.
One of the accused arrested this week is a businessman allegedly involved in the smuggling of cosmetics, clothes, and spices to Pakistan. In India, the Intelligence Bureau (IB), which functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs, is the nodal organisation responsible for counter-intelligence and internal security. It has a network of field offices spread across the country to carry out its operations and has vast human and technical resources at its disposal.
The Research and Analysis Wing, India’s external intelligence arm, the National Investigation Agency, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, National Technical Research Organisation, and Defence Intelligence Agency, while pursuing their own designated charter, also provide inputs to the IB and share the required information amongst themselves. So do the Military Intelligence, Air Force Intelligence, and Naval Intelligence, which are primarily responsible for counter-intelligence and field security within their respective service. The state police forces, which have their own intelligence set-up and cyber-crime monitoring facilities, are also an important element in the national counter-intelligence grid. There are several other technical agencies associated with intelligence gathering and counter-intelligence.
The Armed Forces as well as other government organisations regularly issue advisories on safeguarding against espionage, including the ban on the use of certain apps, and security protocols are in place for IT networks to prevent cyber-attacks.
