ISI operative held in Varanasi

Varanasi, Feb 1 (UNI) In a major swoop, the Special Task Force of Uttar Pradesh Police and the district police arrested an alleged ISI agent from the cantonment area here.

SSP Sujit Pandey told newspersons here this evening that Javed Akhtar (48), who had been staying here for the past one month in a rented accommodation, was arrested last night from a cyber cafe.

A resident of Subzi Mandi, Allahabad, Akhtar was trained by the ISI's cyber cell in Lahore in 2006. Incidentally, Akhtar's brother Junaid was a cycle part dealer in Lahore, the SSP added.

''Akhtar last went to Pakistan on a forged passport in September 2006 and he was trained in Lahdre for a week by ISI officials including Ali Mia and Asif,'' he informed.

Akhtar was to send details about strategic defence installations to his masters through three email accounts -- [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected].

His modus operandi was to save details of his input in the 'Save Draft' folder. The account was then opened by his handlers to download the details. Akhtar was paid Rs 5,000 per month for his work, Mr Pandey said.

A diagramatic sketch of the Allahabad-based Harish Chandra Atomic Research Centre, Bamraulli airstrip in Allahabad and 39 Gorkha Training Centre, Varanasi, underconstruction bridge in Amritsar, and some strategic military documents were recovered from his possession. His fake passport alongwith an internet I-card have also been seized.

A receipt of Rs 14,600 transferred by Akhtar's Pakistani masters through the Western Union Money Transfer has also been seized. A SIM card of a Pakistani cell number has also been seized, which contains phone numbers of senior ISI and Pakistani army officials.

The STF and the city police were alerted about his activities after obtaining the details of his cell phone, from which he used to communicate to his masters in Pakistan.

The arrested ISI agent had close connections with Pakistan as his father Mohd Gaffur had migrated to Lahore in 1963 and settled there after marrying another woman. Javed stayed in Allahabad with his mother, who was a school teacher.

A graduate from Kanpur University, Akhtar had tried his luck as medical representative and then a salesman in a light manufacturing company, besides his own furniture business. But suffered financial loss and he had to sell his paternal house in Allahabad.

Initially, Javed had visited Pakistan to meet his father in 1969 and later met his brother in Lahore in 2001. But Javed came in contact with a PIO official Noor Mohammad when he visited Lahore for the third time in September 2006, said the SSP.

UNI