Pakistani national arrested in Bengal for alleged spying on Army, Navy, Railways

A Pakistani national was arrested in West Bengal`s North 24 Parganas district in an alleged espionage case. Representational pic

Wahab Alam, the Pakistani national arrested in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, was sent by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to collect information about the Indian Army, Navy and Railways in the eastern sector of the country.

Alam was arrested in the Habra area of the district.

Insiders from the state police said that during the marathon interrogation by the sleuths of the Special Task Force (STF) of the state police, he had admitted that he entered India through the India-Nepal border in 2012 and has since been staying in different pockets of the state, shifting bases from time to time.

After his arrest, the STF sleuths also seized forged Indian identity documents from his possession, like an Aadhaar card, PAN card and EPIC card. It is learnt that he managed these forged identity documents through another person, Muhammad Izaz, who was also arrested by the STF in the Topsia area in East Kolkata following Alam's interrogation.

In fact, state police insiders said that before shifting to Habra, from where he had been arrested, Alam used to stay at Izaz's residence in Topsia. However, as per information collected by the STF sleuths, he left the Topsia area immediately after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise started in West Bengal earlier this year before the recently concluded Assembly polls.

STF sleuths found that Alam was probably planning to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, and hence decided to shift to Habra, which is fairly close to the India-Bangladesh border. The STF sleuths are currently interrogating Alam and Izaz to know about their other associates in the state.

Interrogation is also ongoing to find out the kind of information that Alam has already passed on to his handlers in Pakistan.

Reacting to media persons on the arrest of the Pakistani national, the state Municipal Affairs and Urban Development Minister, Agnimitra Paul, said that such elements could make their roots deeper in West Bengal because of the "nurturing by the previous Trinamool Congress regime".

"My appeal to people is to be alert. If any suspicious persons or any suspicious activity is detected in your locality, kindly contact the local police station immediately," she said.

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