New Delhi, Sep 7 (IANS) The Indian agencies have busted multiple modules that were setting up closed-circuit television cameras intended to transmit a live feed to Pakistan.
While over 100 operatives have been arrested by various agencies, the ISI continues to run several modules in different parts of the country.
An official said that these CCTV module operations are one of the most lucrative ones for the ISI. It helps them generate a live feed of military installations, and this in turn helps them plan precision strikes. The official said that the CCTV modules are what the ISI would continue to rely on the most in future as well, despite many such modules being busted by the agencies.
An Intelligence Bureau official said that the current modules are sending a live feed to Pakistan. However, in future, the ISI may insist that the feed be transmitted to some other country, as it is in the process of setting up units in other nations and then collecting the feed from there.
This, yet again, is being done so that the trail does not lead back to Pakistan, the official added.
Pakistan has already been running its modules in India through handlers based out of Syria and the Arab nations. It would set up units in these countries, and the feed would be transmitted there. The ISI handlers would then send across the feed to Pakistan, following which plans would be made to strike crowded, sensitive, and military locations.
Another official said that Pakistan would increasingly rely on live feed to plan attacks. This is a one-time investment and the manpower needed is hardly anything. By the time the agencies get wind of where the CCTV is installed, a lot of information would have already been transmitted.
This is good enough to plan an attack on locations from where the feed has been transmitted.
Officials say that apart from setting up units abroad and running these CCTV modules from there, Pakistan has also been investing a lot of money to rent out places in India.
These are the places where the CCTVs are meant to be installed, and they would be close to sensitive locations, the official also added.
The operatives in India have also been advised not to keep these rented locations for too long. At best, they would be functional for two to three months, following which they would shut shop and move to another location where a sensitive installation is close by, officials also say.
Officials say that the scale of these modules is already massive. The ISI plans to make such modules even bigger. The recent investigations in Ludhiana are a testimony of the same. The module busted by the police revealed that the plan was not just to install CCTV cameras near sensitive locations in Ludhiana, but also planned on expanding their modules to Ferozepur and Rajasthan.
This also signals a shift in the style of recruitment. No longer will the ISI handlers recruit a person from a particular city and then expect him to operate just there.
To avoid coming under the radar, persons from different cities would be recruited and asked to operate outside of their home town. Such persons attract less attention, and once their task is complete, they return to their home towns, officials say.
The ISI has also increased the stakes and is now paying huge sums of money to operatives per operation. When these modules started out, recruits were paid in the range of Rs 5,0000 to Rs 25,000.
Now operatives who undertake inter-state operations are being paid in the range of Rs 3 to 5 lakh. This shows how important these modules are for the ISI.
Pakistan is desperate to strike near military locations and wants to embarrass the Indian armed forces at any cost. It is desperate for revenge post Operation Sindoor and hence has put its entire focus on setting up as many CCTV modules as possible across the country, an official said.
–IANS
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