Yet another instance of suspected spying on defence establishments along the western sector has surfaced with the interrogation of nine Pakistani fishermen detained by the Border Security Force from Gujarat this August.

This comes in the wake of recovery of sensitive maps and documents related to troops and weapons deployed in Gujarat from suspected ISI spy Sudhanshu Sudhakar — arrested by Patna police last month. The nine have been identified as Gulam Rassol, Gulam Kadir, Gulam Hussain, Mohammad Juman, Mohammed Siddique, Fakir Mohammed, Mohammed Juman, Mehmood Baluch and Yusuf Baluch — all residents of Thatta district in Pakistan.

They told security agencies during their interrogation at the Joint Interrogation Centre (JIC) in Bhuj that one Roshan had come with them during their previous visits to Gujarat in the first week of August.

A senior officer at JIC said on condition of anonymity: “According to these people, Roshan had come here with them to meet some of his defence “contacts” in the border areas in the state. They ferried him till the Gujarat coast and have no idea about whom Roshan met and how and when he returned to Pakistan.”

On the basis of the confessional statements of these men, the Kutch district police have started inquiries about Roshan and his reported defence contacts in the district. “Our investigations are underway, but we have got no lead till now,” said a Kutch police officer.

The BSF had apprehended the nine men from the Lalchatta area in Kori Creek on August 16.

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