Vizag espionage case: NIA arrests 3 more for leaking defence secrets to Pakistani operatives

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), with the assistance of local police on Tuesday, arrested three more persons in the Pakistani ISI-linked Visakhapatnam espionage case involving sensitive and classified Naval defence information.

While Vethan Laxman Tandel and Akshay Ravi Naik were picked up from Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka, Abhilash PA was arrested from Kochi in Kerala. With these, the total arrests in the case have gone up to eight.

The accused shared sensitive data about Indian defence establishments.

The three persons arrested on Wednesday were found to have been in contact with Pakistan Intelligence Operatives (PIOs) through social media. They were sharing sensitive information about Indian defence establishments at Karwar Naval Base and Kochi Naval Base and were receiving money from PIOs in exchange for information, as per the NIA investigation.

NIA has so far chargesheeted five persons, including two absconding Pakistani operatives, in the case that was originally registered by the Counter Intelligence Cell, Andhra Pradesh, in January 2021 under sections 120 B and 121A of IPC, sections 17 and 18 of UA(P) Act and Section 3 of Official Secrets Act.

NIA investigations have revealed that Pakistani national Meer Balaj Khan, along with an arrested accused Akash Solanki, was involved in the espionage racket relating to leakage of sensitive vital information pertaining to the Indian Navy, as part of an anti-India conspiracy. Besides Meer Balaj and Solanki, NIA has chargesheeted another absconding PIO, identified as Alven, Manmohan Surendra Panda and Amaan Salim Shaikh in the case, which it took over in June 2023.

The anti-terror agency is continuing to probe the case to unravel the complete espionage conspiracy by Pak-based and other anti-national elements.