Pak Agents Lured Students, Influencers With Cash, Visa Promises, Used Emotional Traps

A series of arrests across Punjab and Haryana has not only exposed a disturbing espionage network operated by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), but has also revealed how Indian youths, including women, were systematically targeted and recruited through social media platforms.

- NEERAJ MOHAN

A study of the police investigations into the arrests revealed that the Pakistan agents adopted almost the same modus operandi to target the youths with emotional manipulation, easy visas and cash incentives to leak sensitive military and security information.

In less than a month, the arrests of more than 10 individuals, including a female YouTuber, a widow, students, a security guard, and a truck driver and farmers aged 20 to 35, have triggered urgent calls within the security establishment for a complete overhaul of national and state-level surveillance and counter-intelligence mechanisms, particularly in the digital domain.

The crackdown begun in the aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, was part of a joint operation codenamed "Digital Dushman". The officials associated with the intelligence agencies revealed that the ISI aimed to exploit internal vulnerabilities, using new-age platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, and YouTube to groom unsuspecting Indian citizens into espionage.

Officials say the espionage network's operational model marks a significant shift in Pakistan's spycraft from traditional agents to ordinary civilians.

However, the police teams from the states in collaboration with the national intelligence agencies are still probing this network being operated from the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi. But the available information revealed that the accused from Haryana and Punjab were mostly from the middle class families and were lured for small amounts ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 1 lakh for tasks such as photographing military convoys, filming air base perimeters, reporting on troop movements. The Pakistan agents even took the of Pakistan visa aspirants by charging an extra Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per applicant for an early and easy visa process.