NIA court jails key accused in Pak espionage case

Visakhapatnam: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court here on Tuesday sentenced a key accused in a Pakistan-led espionage conspiracy involving fraudulent use of mobile SIM cards and misuse of social media platforms to simple imprisonment (SI).The accused, Altafhusen Ghanchibhai alias Shakil, pleaded guilty during the ongoing trial, in which 37 witnesses had already been examined by the prosecution.Convicting him for misusing unique identification features— including SIM cards, OTPs, and social media — the court awarded SI of 5 years and 6 months with a fine of ₹5,000 under Section 18 of the UA(P) Act, and SI of 2.5 years with a fine of ₹5,000 under Section 66C of the IT Act, 2000. The sentences will run concurrently, with a maximum term of 5.5 years.The cross-border conspiracy involved Indian SIM cards belonging to fishermen arrested by the Pakistan Navy on the high seas. Their phones and SIMs were seized and later activated by the accused in India to facilitate espionage.The NIA investigation established that the accused inserted the seized SIM cards into his handset, generated One-Time Passwords (OTPs), and shared them with Pakistani Intelligence Operatives (PIOs). This enabled the operation of Indian WhatsApp numbers from Pakistan.The compromised numbers were then used by PIOs to contact Indian defence personnel under fake identities, seeking sensitive and restricted information — posing a grave threat to India's unity, integrity, and sovereignty.The NIA reiterated its commitment to counter cyber-enabled and cross-border espionage activities and bring offenders to justice.