Seven naval officials, 1 hawala operator arrested in espionage links with Pakistan

Amaravati: Seven Naval officials were arrested in the espionage links with Pakistan. They belonged to different parts of the country, working at different naval commands in crucial positions.

All of them are youngsters, honey trapped by fake female profiles via Facebook, Twitter and other social media, informed the intelligence sleuths. After trapping the officials, the Pakistan reportedly used the Hawala operator to bribe them.

It exposed in the "Operation Dolphin's Nose" executed by the intelligence agencies including NIA, Central Intelligence, Naval Intelligence and AP Counter Intelligence. The intelligence officials arrested the 7 Naval officials along with a Hawala operator, on Saturday.

The AP DGP D Gautam Sawang informed that in the espionage case, seven Naval officials were arrested by the intelligence sleuths.

Sources in the intelligence departments informed that, the accused persons would be produced in the Court at Vijayawada and the investigation was in progress. Apart from the arrested accused persons, still the intelligence sleuths have been suspecting other officials and investigation on them also in progress.

It is informed that, an officer working in Warship and another working in Submarine from the Visakhapatnam Naval base are in arrest of the police. In addition to that, two officials working at Karwar in Karnataka and another 3 from Mumbai Naval Base among the accused officials.

One Hawala operator based in Mumbai was also arrested.They were being brought on transit warrant to Vijayawada to be produced in court, informed the police.

On the other hand, high alert is issued to all the ports in the country. The intelligence officials have started cross checking the previous crime records of criminals. Security also increased at the sensitive areas, across the country, particularly at the ports and naval bases.