2 suspected ISI agents held near Jammu military station

Two suspected agents of Pakistan’s main spy agency ISI were arrested by the Indian Army on Tuesday while shooting videos and taking photographs with their cell phones outside Ratnuchak military station in Jammu, police said on Wednesday.

The men have been identified as Nayeem Akhtar of Doda and Mushtaq Ahmed of Mallar village in Kathua.

“The duo was nabbed by military intelligence officials when they were shooting videos and pictures with their cell phones on Tuesday afternoon. They were immediately whisked away by the army and after preliminary question handed to police, which shifted them to a joint interrogation centre at Miran Sahib,” said a police officer.

Sources in the police claimed the men were in regular contact with their handlers in the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency and had shared some videos of the military station on WhatsApp a few hours before their arrest.

“They have confessed that they were being paid by the ISI. Two mobile phones have been seized and were being scanned,” a source said.

More than a dozen contact numbers from Pakistan were found on their phones during the investigations, sources said and added that some maps were also found from them.

Meanwhile, the army has asked all its military stations in Jammu region to step up their security in a fresh alert.

The Indian Army had claimed last year that suspected militants had attacked the Ratnuchak military station on December 30 but the attempt was foiled by alert guards on the gate.

The Sunjuwan military station in Jammu was attacked on February 10, 2018, which left six soldiers and a civilian dead. On November 29, 2016, the Nagrota army cantonment in Jammu district came under attack by armed terrorists. Two officers and five soldiers were killed in the attack.

First Published: May 29, 2019 13:51 IST