Navy bans Facebook after 11 personnel arrested for espionage with Pakistan links
The spy racket was busted on December 19 by the Andhra Pradesh Intelligence Department, which claimed that the sailors, recruited in 2017, allegedly passed information like locations of naval ships and submarines after they fell into a honey trap.
By:
Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Updated: December 30, 2019 4:05:31 pm
The Navy has also barred usage of smartphones at naval bases, dockyards and warships.
Days after an espionage racket was busted and 11 sailors were arrested for passing on sensitive information to a Pakistani handler, the Indian Navy has banned the use of Facebook by its personnel. Besides, the Navy has also barred usage of smartphones at naval bases, dockyards and warships.
“The stringent step has been taken by the force soon after seven naval personnel were caught leaking sensitive information to enemy intelligence agencies over social media,” ANI quoted an official as saying.
The spy racket was busted on December 19 by the Andhra Pradesh Intelligence Department, which claimed that the sailors, recruited in 2017, allegedly passed information like locations of naval ships and submarines after they fell into a honey trap.
“These young men were first contacted on Facebook by three or four women and lured them into an online relationship. The women later introduced them online to a man who posed as a businessman but was actually a Pakistani handler who started eliciting information from the sailors. The sailors whose chats with the women were sexual in nature were also blackmailed later to reveal the positions and movement of our warships and submarines. The sailors were also paid money every month through a hawala operator,” an official had said.
“These seven sailors would return from ships and submarines and reveal the locations and work they did from about September-October last year. They passed on a lot of sensitive information,” a source had said.
An FIR against the seven sailors has been registered at Counter-Intelligence Department at
Vijayawada. Sources said that AP Intelligence was tracking the seven sailors for several days and their activities were under surveillance.
On Monday, the Counter Intelligence Cell of Andhra Pradesh
arrested four more Indian Navy sailors — three from Mumbai Naval Base and one from Karwar Naval Base.
