NEW DELHI: Acting on a tip-off from a
Military Intelligence unit
, the
anti terrorist squad
(ATS) of Gujarat Police has arrested man who allegedly provided
SIM cards
to suspects involved in espionage operations for
Pakistan’s ISI
, sources said.
The accused has been identified as Mohammad Saqlain, a resident of Jamnagar.
“Saqlain had provided an activated SIM card to one Labshankar Maheshwari, an erstwhile Pak citizen who got Indian citizenship, and was arrested by Gujarat ATS in 2023.
Maheshwari was allegedly facilitating a Pakistani Intelligence Agency officials in targeting Indian military personnel on WhatsApp by sending a “RAT” malware.
Saqlain had gone absconding after the arrest of Maheshwari. However, cops remained on his tell and finally tracked him after a six-month-long chase.
Saqlain and Maheshwari came on MI’s radar after the unit detected a nefarious campaign by a Pakistani Intelligence Operative (PIO), using WhatsApp number, 90xxxx6792, to compromise Android mobile handsets of serving defence forces personnel,
Those targeted mostly had wards studying in different Army Public Schools (APS) across the country and were lured into installing certain malicious Android applications (“.apk” files) mostly under the garb of a campaign named “Har Gher Tiranga” just before Independence Day.
Therein the WhatsApp user, posing as official of the school used to send the malicious application to such targets with text message encouraging them to install the application and upload their ward’s photo with the national flag on the application, so as to participate in the competition
MI officials detected the last cellular use of the mobile number to Gujarat and sought assistance of ATS Gujarat Police.
After deliberate technical analysis and ground work by Gujarat Police ATS, the accused, Maheshwari was identified as the prime suspect who had facilitated the Pakistani agency in acquiring the Indian WhatsApp number by passing the account creation OTP on the said number to the Pakistani agency.
