Chinese personnel straying into Indian side not normal: Intel

New Delhi, Jan 23: The Chinese have stepped up activity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in a bid to gather information about the movement of the Indian Army.

The Intelligence agencies have picked up information about the heightened activity by the Chinese intelligence who are trying to gather information about the movement of the Indian Army and also the border infrastructure upgrade carried out by India.

The spotting by the intelligence comes amidst the ongoing standoff between India and China along the LAC at eastern Ladakh for the past 8 months. There have been 8 rounds of talks, but both sides have not been able to work out a solution as yet.

Intercepts have revealed the presence of Chinese spies at Pangong Tso, Daulat Beg Oldi and across the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. The agencies say that the arrest of a Chinese soldier on January 8 in the area of South Pangong Tso in Eastern Ladakh was not a case of a PLA trooper straying across the undefined border.

"Due to darkness and complicated geography, a solider of the Chinese PLA defence force went astray on the China-India border early Friday (January 8) morning." The China Military Online, an official website of the PLA had claimed.

The trooper was handed over by the Indian Army to the Chinese on January 11. A similar incident had taken place in October when a Chinese soldier was picked up by the Indian Army in the Demchok Sector of East Ladakh. He was handed back to the PLA on October 11. The soldier, Wang Ya Long had claimed that he was trying to help local herders locate a lost yak.

The Indian Intelligence is worried about the movement of the Chinese personnel in the sensitive areas of Eastern Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal. An Intelligence Bureau official tells OneIndia that the intercepts have revealed that the Chinese personnel come into our side and remain there for days.

Hence, to say that these are normal instances of straying is not right, the official also said.