New Delhi, May 20 India’s Operation Sindoor dealt a mighty blow to the terror infrastructure in Pakistan. Since the operation that was carried out to avenge the Pahalgam attack, the ISI has focused heavily on its espionage network within India.
The agencies have busted several networks, including a CCTV spying operation and a network of influencers. While these are the big fries, the agencies are worried about a larger network of youth who are ready to fish out information for as little as Rs 500.
These low-cost operatives, charging in the range of Rs 500 to Rs 1,000, are a worry because they are present in larger numbers and are the ones who hardly ever come under the radar. The information that the ISI is seeking from them may be small, but it is very significant. A youth is asked to sit outside a railway station and monitor the movement of Indian troops.
The Indian army relies on the railways for the movement of its troops. It also relies on the railways for the movement of tanks, artillery and heavy logistics across the country. It routinely operates dedicated Military Special Trains and uses the railway network to rapidly mobilise forces both during peacetime and conflict.
To monitor such movement, not much training is needed. The ISI recruits just have to provide the timings of the train, details about its movement and destination.
An Intelligence Bureau official said that for such operations, the ISI looks out for youth who roam around aimlessly at the railway stations. These are the low-cost operatives that have become the strategic assets of the ISI. More importantly, there is hardly any investment for the ISI as hiring such persons is cheap, and the training required to gather information is almost nil.
Another official explained that even the recruitment strategy is relatively easier in such cases. The handlers in India are told to identify just a handful of youth for such an espionage operation. These boys are, in turn, told to identify more such persons from their friends’ circles. For these youth, it is just the lure of money that brings them into the network. The low payments are sufficient for these persons to get the job done, the official explained.
This low-cost network also relies on cheap phones with no GPS or recording capabilities. This means that the phones are extremely hard to track. All these people have to do is collect the information and then pass it on to their handlers. Once the job is done, the SIM cards are disposed of, and they are provided with new ones, another official explained.
Another official said that the ISI wants to create espionage networks in multiple layers. It also has other networks that install solar-powered CCTV cameras at sensitive locations. These operatives are paid in the range of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15000 per installation.
There is also the white-collar network who are paid in the range of Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000. These operatives are hired to gather high-level information. This is the same network that is also used to set honey traps and gather very sensitive information about India’s defence and science and technology sectors.
Officials say that the ISI wants as much information as possible on the country. It is desperate for an image makeover after the Operation Sindoor embarrassment. The spy agency is attempting to gather as much information so that it can plan strikes on the Indian military and strategic locations, officials also say.
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