Spies sent to foil plots in Delhi

A COTERIE of spies from Australia, Britain and the United States travelled to New Delhi to investigate terrorist threats to the Commonwealth Games, a British newspaper claims.

The Daily Telegraph quoted British and Indian ''security sources'' as saying that two dozen senior intelligence agents visited India.

The paper said they were investigating Lashkar-e-Tayiba, the Pakistani jihadi group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people died, and an Indian group linked to them, Indian Mujahideen. An escalation of tension between India and Pakistan was of most concern.

Advertisement: Story continues below A spokesman for Attorney-General Robert McClelland would not comment on the report, but said there was ''a high risk of terrorist attack in New Delhi''.

''We continue to receive reports that terrorists plan to attack public places, including hotels and tourist locations in New Delhi, Mumbai and other major cities. Australian sporting organisations, individual athletes or tourists need to make their own decisions on whether to attend the Games.''

Lebanon arrests suspected Israeli spies

The Lebanese security forces arrest nine people suspected of spying for Israel, the country's army has said in an official statement.


The statement said the nine suspected spies were detained over the past two months, a Press TV correspondent reported on Monday.

The interrogation process with four of the suspected spies has been completed and they have been transferred to the judicial authorities, the statement said.

The remaining five are still being interrogated by the army, it added.

Lebanon has stepped up efforts to disband the spy groups working for the Israeli spy agency, Mossad.

More than 100 people have been arrested on suspicion of spying for Mossad since April 2009, including members of the country's security forces and telecommunications personnel.

AGB/AKM/MMN

‘Spy’ plans plight protest at PM door

GAJINDER SINGH
Chandigarh, July 18: A former Indian “spy” to Pakistan, who is jobless and cannot pay his medical bills, has decided to stage a sit-in outside the Prime Minister’s house to highlight the plight of secret agents in the country.

“I will try to sit outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence to demand better conditions for our families. That is the least the government can do for us,” Balbir Singh said over phone from his home at Mahal in Amritsar.

Frail and in his 60s, Balbir had to give up his job as a night watchman last year after a heart ailment confined him to bed for months. His son Jaswant, 18, was forced to drop out of school and do odd jobs to run the home. So was his daughter Jaswinder, 17, who once dreamt of being a software engineer.

Balbir was apparently sent to Peshawar on a spying mission in the late sixties along with Kashmir Singh, who was freed from Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail in 2008 after prolonged legal proceedings. They were arrested on their way back to Lahore after their mission, Balbir claimed.

“We were arrested on June 19, 1974, on the outskirts of Rawalpindi. While Kashmir got the death sentence, I was sentenced to 10 years and released in 1986 along with some other agents. We were simply pushed into India by the Pakistanis from an area in Abohar,” he said.

Balbir claimed the Indian government had never bothered to care for its former spies or even acknowledge their existence. Although Kashmir Singh was accorded a hero’s welcome in 2008, felicitated by the Punjab government and given money and a plot of land, nothing similar has come Balbir’s way.

“We are only seeking a future for our children,” he said. “We have launched court cases demanding compensation, but have not been able to get any rulings in our favour. Lawyers say any legal endorsement will mean that the government engages in espionage. But there are countries who have accepted their spies.”

Balbir said he was trying to get other former spies to accompany him at the proposed sit-in outside the Prime Minister’s house. “We can even squat in Jantar Mantar to highlight our plight. There are many who are completely bed-ridden, some pull rickshaws to sustain their families.”

Balbir said that after Partition most secret agents had been hired through word of mouth, given language training and sent across the border on specific missions. “We used to mostly cross when people were busy with their prayers. Sometimes we were sent with no specific mission.”

Israel police 'arrest Mossad spy on training exercise'

24 November 2009
A trainee spy for Israel's secret service agency Mossad was arrested by Tel Aviv police while taking part in a training operation, media reports say.
The young trainee was spotted by a female passer-by as he planted a fake bomb under a vehicle in the city.

He was only able to persuade police he was a spy after being taken in by an officer for questioning on Monday.

The authorities have refused to comment on the story although Israeli media outlets have expressed their surprise

Mossad does not give uniformed police advance notice of training sessions
A trainee spy for Israel's secret service agency Mossad was arrested by Tel Aviv police while taking part in a training operation, media reports say.
The young trainee was spotted by a female passer-by as he planted a fake bomb under a vehicle in the city.

He was only able to persuade police he was a spy after being taken in by an officer for questioning on Monday.
The authorities have refused to comment on the story although Israeli media outlets have expressed their surprise.

'Just a drill'

Mossad does not tell local uniformed police about its training exercises.
The country's commercial Channel 10 said it hoped the agency's operatives were "more effective abroad", AFP news agency reported.
Niva Ben-Harush, the woman who reported the novice's suspicious behaviour to police, told Ynet News that 15 minutes after she made the call, Tel Aviv's port was closed and people evacuated.

She said police initially asked her to come with them and identify the suspect.
"But after a few minutes, they told me it was just a drill," she said.
Up to three agency employees were believed to have been suspended following the incident, Ynet reported.

It quoted the prime minister's office as saying it did "not respond to information about such activities undertaken by security agencies or attributed to them". (BBC)

Alleged Pakistani spy arrested

NEW DELHI: A Pakistani national allegedly involved in espionage activities has been arrested at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here by the Special Cell of the Delhi police. Several defence-related and sensitive documents have purportedly been seized from him.

The suspect, whose identity has been kept a secret in the interest of investigations, was about to board a flight to Dubai when he was intercepted by the Special Cell sleuths on Thursday, following a tip-off by Central intelligence agencies. They checked his passport, purportedly issued from Lucknow, and found that it was obtained fraudulently.

Subsequently, he was interrogated in coordination with intelligence officials and Special Cell sleuths.

On checking his personal belongings, the police reportedly found several photographs and hand-drawn maps of an Air Force base near here and the Army’s Meerut Cantonment in Uttar Pradesh. Besides these, other security sensitive documents were also found, sources said.

Based on the findings, the Special Cell arrested the accused on espionage charges. During interrogation, he reportedlyclaimed that he was from Karachi in Pakistan. After being induced by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence to work as a spy against monetary compensation, he was trained and then sent to Nepal by air, from where he illegally entered the country through the porous Indo-Nepal border, sources said.

The accused disclosed that he had been staying in the Shahdara area of northeast Delhi for the past four years. According to sources, he managed to procure some identification documents — like a driving licence — showing him as an Indian citizen.

The police have so far not come across any evidence to suggest that the accused had earlier gone out of India through legal or illegal means. He remained in contact with his Pakistan-based handlers mostly through e-mail. He made calls using public telephones that are now being identified. Efforts are also being made to extract details of the e-mails sent by him.

The accused is being taken to different parts of U.P., including Lucknow, to identify the places he visited and also to track down his local contacts.

reported by Devesh K. Pandey (The Hindu)