Amritsar: An Indian Army jawan and his accomplice have been arrested by the Punjab Police for allegedly spying for Pakistan.
The soldier has been identified as Gurpreet Singh alias Gopy Foji, a resident of Dhariwal in Amritsar. He is from the Sikh Regiment and was posted in Jammu. His associate has been named as Sahil Masih alias Shali.
According to preliminary investigation, Gurpreet was in direct contact with Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) operatives and shared sensitive and confidential information via pen drives. The key ISI handler involved in the case has been identified as Rana Javed, the DG of Punjab Police Gaurav Yadav said.
He said that two mobile phones containing virtual numbers, reportedly used to communicate with ISI operatives, have been recovered from the possession of both the accused. Further investigations are underway to dismantle the broader espionage-terror network and identify all collaborators in this case, the DGP added.
Maninder Singh, senior superintendent of police, Amritsar Rural, said that Gurpreet was recruited into the Army in 2016 and systematically exploited his official position to collect, store, and transmit classified military information via pen drives and discs.
“The espionage network was facilitated by one Arjan, a Dubai-based drug trafficker from Dhariwal, who introduced Gurpreet to ISI operatives five months ago. Since then, Gurpreet has actively engaged in the unauthorised collection and relay of sensitive military data to the ISI using pre-decided drop locations,” the SSP said.
Gurpreet would receive monetary compensation through a complex financial network involving intermediary bank accounts of friends, relatives, and foreign associates to evade detection, the police officer said.
“Gurpreet and Sahil were arrested red-handed when they were attempting yet another handover of sensitive data,” Maninder Singh said.
