CHANDIGARH/PATHANKOT: A resident of Punjab’s Pathankot has been arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan-based handlers, police said on Friday.Preliminary investigation found that Baljit Singh, a resident of Chakk Dhariwal village, had installed a CCTV camera at a shop near a bridge on National Highway-44, allegedly to monitor the movement of Army and paramilitary forces, police said.They added that he was reportedly transmitting the live feed to handlers based in Pakistan.During questioning, the accused confessed that he had installed an internet-based CCTV camera at a shop on the Pathankot–Jammu section of NH-44 in January.Police said he was also receiving directions from an unidentified person based in Dubai and had been paid Rs 40,000.The CCTV camera was recovered from his possession, they added.Notably, last month, police had busted two ISI-backed espionage modules allegedly operating from Pakistan, which used high-tech, China-made solar-powered CCTV cameras to transmit live feeds of sensitive military locations to Pakistan-based handlers.Earlier last week, Punjab Police’s counter-intelligence wing arrested two suspected associates linked to foreign-based handlers of the banned terror outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said.The arrests were made last week, during which police also recovered two hand grenades from the accused.According to the DGP, the recovered grenades were allegedly part of a larger conspiracy aimed at targeting government institutions and key infrastructure in an attempt to disturb peace and law and order in Punjab.Security agencies suspect that the accused were acting on instructions from handlers operating from abroad and were actively involved in terror-related activities.Police have registered an FIR at the State Special Operations Cell (SSOC) in Amritsar under provisions of the Explosive Substances Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).(With agency inputs)
