Karachi resident: Pakistani held in India on espionage charge

Police say highly sensitive documents have been recovered from his possession.

NEW DELHI:

A former resident of Karachi who has lived in India since 1990 was arrested on Wednesday, after he was ‘lured’ by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency to spy for Pakistan, Indian police said.

“Kamran Akbar arrived in India in 1990, studied in the country and married an Indian girl,” Ashok Chand, District Commissioner of Police (Crime) stated. He claimed that Akbar was arrested last week and produced in court under espionage charges, after ‘sensitive’ documents pertaining to national security were recovered from his possession.

The accused did petty jobs in Pakistan after he quit his studies, and came to Kolkata on a valid Pakistani passport to visit his relatives in India. He came through Attari (Wagah) border and stayed with his uncle Muhammad Salim in Kolkata. Akbar, along with Salim and his associate Asraf Khan went to Goa.

Salim had worked as a guide there and was well acquainted with the city’s layout. “As they were short of funds, they committed two house robberies in Goa and they were arrested during the second robbery. Akbar was released from jail in 1996,” Chand added.

Upon his release, he came back to his relatives in Kolkata. There, an Indian passport in the name of Asif Hossain was prepared for him. On this new passport, he procured a one-month visa and went to Pakistan in July 1997.

Chand, it is alleged, reiterated that ISI recruited him upon learning that he had stayed in India and had acquired an Indian passport. “He was recently tasked to come to Delhi to collect defence-related documents which were to be sent to his handlers in Pakistan. The man was apprehended while he was boarding a train for Kolkata after collecting the documents,” he concluded.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2012.