Andhra driver held for stealing crucial info

Shahir Ahmed was arrested after the security staff of the Space Centre found the maps in his pocket during the routine check.

A bus driver ferrying employees of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh was on Thursday taken into custody for possessing some maps containing critical information about the Centre.

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The driver, identified as Shahir Ahmed, has been handed over to the Nellore district police after the security staff of the Space Centre found the maps in his pocket during the routine check after the late night duty on Wednesday.

The Nellore District Superintendent of Police Suryanarayana reached Sriharikota on Friday evening and was interrogating him, the police said.

Ahmed, whose grandfather is a non-technical staff member at the SHAR Centre, is a driver with a private transport agency contracted by ISRO to ferry the employees to their destinations.

The maps, showing the launch vehicle, the equipment at the "Zero Point" and the controlling point, were recovered from the driver near the Phase II residential quarters at SHAAR Centre, the police said.