Pak officials planned to blackmail Railway staff into giving information about movement of troops

New Delhi, June 02: The two Pakistani spies who were asked to leave India had tried to gather information on trains which were ferrying soldiers of the Indian Army.

Sources tell OneIndia that the two Pakistan High Commission officials identified as Abid Hussain and Muhammad Tahir had set up a network to gather as much information as possible about the movement of the Indian Army. Both were arrested and then declared persona non grata on charges of espionage.

The Intelligence Bureau (IB) had kept a close watch on them. The duo had sourced classified documents relating to the movement of troops. They were trying to build a network within the Railways to source information about the movement of soldiers.

The two were working at the visa section of the Pakistan High Commission. During the interrogation, they confessed that they were on the rolls of the ISI. Both had created several fake identifies in a bid to pose as Indian agents.

During the process of collecting information, Abid posed as Gautam. He said that he was the brother of a media person while trying to establish contact with an officer in the Railways, the probe further revealed. He had told the official that he wanted information as he wanted to pass it on to his brother, who was doing a story on the movement of Indian troops. He had also told the official that he was willing to pay money in exchange for the information.

An Intelligence Bureau official confirmed that the duo wanted to set a trap for the official by offering him the bribe. Had the bribe been accepted, they were planning on blackmailing him into giving out the information, the IB official also said.

The government has declared both these officials persona non grata for indulging in activities incompatible with their status as members of a diplomatic mission and asked them to leave the country within 24 hours, a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs issued on Sunday read.