Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force arrested a man from Uttar Pradesh's Tanda for allegedly being an agent of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence.
His arrest comes amid several other arrests made across the nation with similar alleged espionage charges including Jyoti Malhotra, YouTuber from Haryana who reportedly had close contacts with the Pakistan official recently expelled from Pakistan High Commission by Indian authorities for 'suspicious activities'.
Uttar Pradesh Man Arrested
The man arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police has been identified as Shahzad. He was by STF Moradabad unit following inputs about his alleged involvement in cross-border smuggling and espionage activities for the ISI.
The STF said Shahzad was also passing sensitive information related to national security to his handlers.
Shahzad travelled to Pakistan several times over the years and was allegedly smuggling cosmetics, clothes, spices, and other items across the border, the agency alleged.
Shahzad has been under sections, including espionage-related provisions, at the STF Police Station in Lucknow, it said in a statement.
According to India Today, a further probe revealed that Shehzad had transferred funds to Pakistani agents operating in India. "He also allegedly helped send people from Rampur and other parts of Uttar Pradesh to Pakistan under the pretext of smuggling, with the intent of recruiting them for ISI-linked activities," the report said.
A case has been registered against Shehzad under Sections 148 and 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at the ATS police station in Lucknow and he will be produced at a court soon.
Other Arrests By UP STF
A 24-year-old youth, who was recently arrested in the Panipat district of Haryana for allegedly supplying sensitive information to some individuals in Pakistan, hailed from the Kairana district of Uttar Pradesh.
The suspect, Nauman Ilahi (24), also was allegedly in touch with a Pak-based ISI handler, Haryana Police sources had said on Thursday.
Ilahi, who worked as a factory security guard, was nabbed on Tuesday. He was reportedly staying with his sister and brother-in-law at Hali Colony in Panipat.
On March 13, the Uttar Pradesh ATS had arrested an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Hazratpur in the Firozabad district for allegedly sending sensitive and confidential information to a Pakistani agent, who had befriended him on Facebook.
The accused was identified as Ravindra Kumar, a chargeman at the factory.
"In the last few days, the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) has been receiving information about handlers of a Pakistani spy agency, under pseudonyms, luring staff at the External Affairs Ministry and the Government of India, and offering them money to obtain confidential and classified information and documents, which could have posed a threat to India's internal and external security," the ATS had said in a statement.
"On a thorough probe, it was found that Ravindra Kumar, a chargeman at the ordnance factory in Hazratpur, was sending sensitive and confidential information to a Pakistani agent, who was his Facebook friend," the statement said.
The ATS squad said they found sensitive and confidential documents in Kumar's phone, which he had sent to the Pakistani agent. He could not offer a satisfactory explanation for this, they said.
"During interrogation, Kumar said he has been working in the Ordnance Factory since 2006, and as a chargeman since 2009. Around July 2024, he became friends with Neha Sharma on Facebook. He frequently chatted with her on WhatsApp, via audio and video calls," the ATS said.
"Ravindra Kumar, in the greed of becoming rich, used to send her confidential information. He also said he used to frequently delete the WhatsApp chats, but some chats and confidential documents remained in the phone," the ATS said.
