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Two Ajnala men arrested for spying on Bathinda military station
The accused allegedly installed a solar-powered CCTV camera to stream live feeds of army movements to handlers in Pakistan and Canada.
The Bathinda police and the counter-intelligence wing busted an espionage network by arresting two Ajnala residents accused of monitoring army movements for foreign handlers.
Superintendent of police, city, Narinder Singh said on Monday that the accused, Ashok Singh and Akashdeep Singh of Sarai village in Ajnala sub division of Amritsar district, allegedly installed a solar-powered CCTV camera on a pole along the Bathinda-Fazilka stretch of national highway No. 7 to stream live video feeds to unidentified individuals in Pakistan and Canada.
A case under the Official Secrets Act and the Prevention of Public Property Act was registered at the Thermal police station on June 9.
The operation succeeded after Thermal station house officer Harjiwan Singh grew suspicious of the solar-powered camera in an isolated area of the busy highway; a subsequent check revealed the inserted SIM card was registered to Ashok, who was arrested on June 10. His accomplice, Akashdeep, who helped mount the hardware, was apprehended on Sunday.
The security breach directly targets the Bathinda military station, one of the country’s largest military bases and the headquarters of the army’s 10 Corps, or Chetak Corps.
Investigation shows the camera had been operational since March, tracking both military and police movements.
The police revealed the suspects were paid for the operation and are currently tracking down a third accomplice whose identity remains confidential.
The police declined to name the cellular network used or the specific digital evidence seized and the exact transaction amounts
Investigators are expanding their search to Kapurthala in Punjab and Hanumangarh in Rajasthan, where the three accused recently travelled, to determine if similar surveillance equipment has been deployed near other strategic defence installations.
