Itanagar: Two more persons from Jammu and Kashmir have been arrested on charges of collecting sensitive information from Arunachal Pradesh and sending them to handlers in Pakistan.
Till now, five persons – all of them from Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir – have been arrested in this connection.
The arrested persons have been identified as Aijaz Ahmed Bhat and Bashir Ahmad Ganai, the police said.
“The accused have been brought to the state from Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir and they are currently in our police custody. With this, the total number of arrests in the case has risen to five,” Arunachal Pradesh’s IG (Law and Order) Chukhu Apa told journalists, as reported by NDTV.
The accused were collecting sensitive information from different parts of Arunachal Pradesh and sharing it with their Pakistani handlers, he said.
“We are waiting for the forensic report. The preliminary investigation revealed that they were sharing sensitive information to the handlers
outside the country. Our investigation is on and further details will emerge as it progresses,” the IGP said.
Earlier, on November 21, the police had arrested Nazir Ahmad Malik and Sabir Ahmed Mir, both residents of Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir, after receiving credible information about their possible involvement in espionage activities. Subsequently, another accused, Shabir Ahmed Khan, who also belongs to Kupwara, was arrested from Itanagar.
“We were working on credible intelligence inputs about a spy ring operating in Arunachal Pradesh. Under the leadership of Itanagar SP Jummar Basar, the team worked diligently and made these arrests. Two accused were arrested from Kupwara, while three were arrested from different locations in the Itanagar Capital Region,” Apa said.
The arrested individuals posed as blanket sellers and travelled to various parts of the state to collect information, the IGP said.
Intelligence agencies believe that the information about the movement of troops and equipment was passed on to China by Pakistan.
Arunachal Pradesh shares a nearly 1,129 km long border with China that includes high altitude terrain. This is an extremely sensitive borders with China staking claim over Arunachal Pradesh, calling it “South Tibet”.
The Indian Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) have to remain on constant vigil to guard the border.