Secret satphone link with China, Nepal? Army worried

, May 10: Are we under serious threat from

? According to a

published in Bengali daily

on Friday, the Indian Army has recently learnt that conversation was regularly taking place with parties in Nepal, Tibet and China through a satellite phone in India.

The army is deeply worried after coming to know about this for satellite phones are not allowed for common usage in this country and it has found that the place from where the conversation was being carried out is near Darjeeling in northern West Bengal, which is also home to the chief of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), which is leading the Gorkhaland movement in the state.

The army is currently trying to know who is using the phone and why conversation is being made with parties in Nepal and China. The phone was switched off later, making it difficult for the investigators to trace it. The army has intensified its security drive in these areas.

The Lebong unit of the army detected the use of the satellite phone first and became suspicious that it was being used to instigate problems in India and also for the purpose of smuggling crores of rupees to Nepal. It was also being suspected that local influential people could be involved in the mysterious communication.

The army is trying to get hold of the phone first to resolve the mystery.

The recent border stand-off with the Chinese is yet to die down and the satellite phone incident has made the authorities doubly alert in the wake of the latest incident.

The army informed West Bengal government soon after learning about the satellite phone and the state and central intelligence agencies were also alerted. The West Bengal home department expressed its concern over the incident and also apprised the Centre.

The army and the security agencies are particularly worried for satellite phones are genot used commonly in India. One has to get special permission from the Centre to use these phones. Thuraya satellite phones are particularly banned in this country after the 26/11 terror attacks while authorities suspect that the phone which has been used at Darjeeling could be a Thuraya phone.

Is something cooking?

OneIndia News