Man held for bribing navy personnel for information: NIA

A 49-year-old resident of Mumbai, suspected to have links with spies in Pakistan, has been arrested for allegedly bribing navy personnel in exchange for classified

A 49-year-old resident of Mumbai, suspected to have links with spies in Pakistan, has been arrested for allegedly bribing navy personnel in exchange for classified information, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said on Friday.

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Mohammed Haroon Lakdawala used to travel to Karachi on the pretext of cloth trade, according to an NIA statement. During one such visit, he came in contact with two spies, Akbar and Rizwan, who asked him to make deposits into the bank accounts of 11 navy personnel, the statement said.

The spy ring was busted on December 2019 by the Andhra Pradesh police in collaboration with central agencies such as the Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing. NIA took over the probe in late December.

Security agencies dubbed it “Operation Dolphin Nose”, a reference to the hill next to the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam, where naval offices and a residential complex are located. In all, 14 people including 11 navy personnel — many from Vishakhapatnam — and a Pakistani-born Indian national, Shaista Qaiser, have been arrested in the case.

According to NIA, Pakistan-based spies recruited agents in India to collect sensitive and classified information on the movement of naval ships, submarines and location of other defence establishments. The navy personnel, who were compromised, came in contact with Pakistani nationals through various social media platforms. The payments were made via Lakdawala.

Investigators earlier told HT that the navy personnel, mostly sailors, did not reveal any significant information and were paid between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000.

“Lakdawala was basically chosen to make payments to the sailors through different modes. For this, he received money from Pakistan. We are investigating if he was using hawala channels to receive funds from Pakistan and the number of visits he made to Karachi over the years,” said an NIA officer who didn’t wish to be named.

NIA has found that the sailors who have been paid by Lakdawala didn’t have access to any sensitive or classified information, the officer added.

After the spy ring was busted, the navy asked all its ranks on board warships, dockyards and naval bases to keep themselves away from social media and smartphones.