BHUBANESWAR: Last month, Odisha Police nabbed a senior technical officer posted at the integrated test range (ITR), a vital facility of DRDO at Chandipur in Balasore district, on charges of sharing defence secrets to a ‘woman ISI operative’.
Dey’s arrest induced sleepless nights for top officials as he had access to sensitive technical information related to the launch of Indian missiles. He was working in the telemetry section of the test facility that monitors the performance of missiles immediately after test firing.
While the investigating agencies are still working on the devices seized from him to ascertain if the spy had inserted any malicious code on the technician’s phone and what kind of information was shared, they stumbled upon an innovative way of trapping targets.
Sources said the woman, with whom the 52-year-old technician was in conversation for over a year, had introduced herself as a ‘poor science student’ from Uttar Pradesh with interest in higher education and research.
“Dey is learnt to have sponsored her studies and she used this as a ploy to establish the genuineness. Later, it was found that he too has shared some classified information, images and videos of the launching complex and missiles to the operative in exchange of nude photos and videos,” the sources informed.
IG (Eastern Range) Himanshu Lal refused to divulge further details. However, he said a detailed investigation is on with the help of technical experts. Six devices, including cell phones and laptop, have been sent to the central forensic laboratory at Kolkata and Delhi. The reports are awaited. A local court on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of Dey, who has been placed under suspension.
This was the third espionage incident at the missile test range in the recent past and second in just over a year. In September 2021, the police had arrested five contractual employees of ITR, including the driver of its director. They were all honey trapped.
With the growing incidents of honey trap in recent times, innovative modus operandi and ways to trap officials in defence facilities of the country have left the internal security and counter-intelligence agencies worried.
Regular sensitisation and orientation programmes by IB and other internal security agencies in the military establishments notwithstanding, honey traps by inimical agencies, which use social media platforms to trap targets, has become a cause of concern.
Such frequent incidents show how even facilities of DRDO known for its cyber prowess are vulnerable to simple technology, and exposes the threat social media can pose to the institutions involved in research and development if it is dealt with iron hand.
Since honey trap accounts are usually handled by women, who first identify their targets then befriend them to lure them into spilling crucial information that can compromise the nation’s security, defence experts have warned that it is high time the country devises a strategy to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.
Former director of directorate of public interface, DRDO Ravi Kumar Gupta said it is a worrying trend that defence personnel are coming under the target of the vicious trap of new forms of espionage.He said the country’s sensitive establishments should adopt a four-pronged strategy to thwart such incidents and there should be access to information strictly on a need-to-know basis to remain well-prepared and well-protected.
“People posted at vital installations should restrict the use of social media and never share their identity on such platforms. Apart from enhanced surveillance on employees, including the scrutiny of change in behaviour, appropriate training on relevant aspects and threats can prevent espionage,” he added.
Disturbing trend
February 2023: Senior technical officer of ITR arrested for allegedly sharing defence secrets to a woman ISI operative
September 2021: Five contractual employees of ITR, including the driver of its director, honey trapped
February 2021: A contractual employee of ITR Ishwar Behera arrested on charges of spying in 2015, convicted and awarded life sentence
November 2019: A soldier Bichitra Behera from Ganjam district, posted in Pokhran, arrested in Rajasthan for allegedly being honey-trapped by a woman ISI agent