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20-year-old youth held for relaying army movements in Ludhiana to Pak handlers
Using China-made CCTV cameras, the youth was allegedly relaying live feed of the sensitive military area to Pakistan-based handlers, said police
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The Ludhiana police have arrested a 20-year-old youth from Gurdaspur for espionage after allegedly monitoring the Baddowal Cantonment area for foreign handlers.
Using China-made CCTV cameras, the youth was allegedly relaying live feed of the sensitive military area to Pakistan-based handlers, said police.
Confirming the arrest, DCP (Investigation) Harpal Singh said the accused, Rachhpal Singh of Fatehgarh Churian, Gurdaspur, was apprehended following a tip-off.
Police said the youth had rented a shop on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur Road, around 6 km from Baddowal Cantonment.
He opened a shoe store there, but allegedly did not operate it regularly. Instead, CCTV cameras were installed outside the premises, facing the main road.
Investigators suspect that the cameras’ live feed was being accessed through mobile applications by Pakistan-based handlers. They said Rachhpal allegedly shared the user ID and passwords and received around ₹2.5 lakh to ₹3 lakh in return.
Police are probing how Rachhpal came in contact with the cross-border handlers and whether he was part of a larger network.
An FIR under Sections 3, 4, 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, and Section 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has been registered at the Sarabha Nagar police station.
Fifth espionage bust in four months
The arrest comes against the backdrop of similar espionage cases over the past four months in Punjab.
On April 30, three Ferozepur-based handlers were arrested in two separate cases for using high-tech, China-made CCTV cameras to transmit live feeds of sensitive military locations in Kapurthala and Jalandhar to Pakistan-based handlers.
In another breakthrough, on May 21, police had arrested a Pathankot resident for spying for Pakistan-based handlers by sending them live footage of troop movements on the Pathankot-Jammu stretch of National Highway-44 in exchange for ₹40,000.
On June 15, another espionage network was busted in Bathinda with the arrest of two Ajnala residents who were also monitoring army movements for foreign handlers.
