Arrested ‘ISI agents’ were setting up ‘sleeper cells’ in Gujarat, say cops

The alleged ISI agents, arrested from Jamalpur area of Ahmedabad, are suspected to have been used to set up "sleeper cells" in Gujarat by serving as moles to collect information from the three cantonments — Ahmedabad, Bhuj and Gandhinagar — in the state. The Detection of Crime Branch, which got eight-day remand of the duo, has claimed to have found that the agents were collecting information on details of purchases of Indian Army that could be used for a possible attack on the cantonments.

After this disclosure by the DCB, military intelligence officers have also joined the probe to find out who from their premises may have been in cahoots with the suspected ISI spies, Sirajuddin Fakir (21) and his aide Mohammad Ayub Sheikh (23).

Even as the families of the duo tried to deny the allegations, the police is firming up evidence against them.

The crime branch has decoded some of Sirajuddin and Sheikh's emails sent from a cyber cafe, allegedly to Pakistani sources. Inspector H A Rathod, who is in-charge of cyber cell of the crime branch and is investigating this case, told The Indian Express, "Police as well as intelligence wing of the Indian Army and Indian Air Force are trying to identify the Army men who provided secrets to them."

Rathod said Sirajuddin had received money from Western Union Money Transfer and Money Express in the city. The money had been transferred from Dubai to Ahmedabad in as many as 27 instalments of Rs 5,000 and Rs 20,000, he added.

"We have also seized the CPU of the A K Cyber Cafe in Bapunagar area from where Sirajuddin used to operate," said Rathod.

The police is probing how Sirajuddin, who worked as a driver-cum-salesman for 7-Star Eggs Mart, from January to March this year, procured vital security secrets to allegedly supply them to Pakistani contacts. Police claimed he reportedly used his friend Mohammad Ayub's email to send the information to Pakistan. Ayub is a student of journalism in a reputed college in Khanpur.

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