- 15-year-old arrested for alleged spying.
- Sensitive military data sent to Pakistan.
- Phone reportedly cloned for live feeds.
In a significant development, Punjab Police have arrested a 15-year-old boy from Pathankot on serious allegations related to spying. The minor, who hails from the Samba district of Indian-administered Kashmir, is currently facing charges under the Official Secrets Act. Following the arrest, Diljinder Singh Dhillon, a senior police officer in Pathankot, reportedly detailed the findings from the teenager’s mobile phone analysis. According to Dhillon, the boy was allegedly in constant communication with facilitators linked to the Pakistan Army, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and other terrorist groups based in Pakistan.
Authorities claim the minor had been consistently transmitting photographs of highly sensitive military installations for over a year. Furthermore, the police officer claimed that the youth’s phone had been ‘cloned’ from Pakistan, which allowed for a live feed of critical military movements and important installations to be transmitted directly across the border. Initial investigations also suggest that the arrested youth was reportedly connected to a ‘Narco-Gangster’ operating from Pakistan. The police have registered a formal case and indicated that further intensive interrogation is necessary before the minor is presented in court.
This arrest follows a wider pattern of alleged espionage activities reported by Indian authorities. Simultaneously, Punjab Police arrested another individual, a Punjabi resident from Ambala, accusing him of gathering classified information from the Indian Air Force station to send to Pakistan. Officials stated that this individual had been in contact with a Pakistani woman via social media for seven months. Police sources reveal a growing trend, noting that 17 individuals have been apprehended in the last seven months alone on charges of spying for Pakistan. Most of these suspects fall within the 20 to 35 age bracket, making the recently detained youth from Jammu the youngest person arrested under these circumstances.
Previously, after the launch of India’s Operation Sindoor in May of last year, twelve Indian citizens, including two women (YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra and Ghazala), were arrested and accused of being Pakistani spies. A Pakistani embassy official was also previously expelled from Delhi on similar espionage charges. Punjab police officials have asserted that efforts are underway to identify and dismantle these anti-India networks operating from Pakistan and stressed the need to counsel vulnerable youth who might be susceptible to falling into ‘Pakistan’s trap,’ as reported by BBC Urdu.