Chinese spy balloon collected intelligence info from sensitive US military sites media: Report
Washington, Apr 3: A Chinese spy balloon that flew across the US earlier this year was able to gather intelligence from several sensitive American military sites and transmit it back to Beijing in real-time, despite the Biden administration's efforts to block it, a media report said on Monday.
A suspected Chinese spy balloon said to be the size of three buses, was spotted over the airspace of the United States in late January.
China was able to control the balloon so it could make multiple passes over some of the sites (at times flying figure-eight formations) and transmit the information it collected back to Beijing in real-time, NBC News reported, quoting three unnamed officials.
The intelligence China collected was mostly from electronic signals, which can be picked up from weapons systems or include communications from base personnel, rather than images, the officials were quoted as saying in the report.
The three officials said China could have gathered much more intelligence from sensitive sites if not for the Biden administration's efforts to move around potential targets and obscure the balloon's ability to pick up their electronic signals by stopping them from broadcasting signals, the report said.
The White House and the Defence Department did not respond to the breaking news, except for referring to its previous comments that the balloon had "limited additive value" for intelligence collection by the Chinese government "over and above what [China] is likely able to collect through things like satellites in low earth orbit".
The balloon first entered US airspace from Alaska on January 28, according to the Biden administration.
Over the next four days, it was flying over the Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, where the US has some of its nuclear assets.
The development further strained the already tense bilateral ties between the US and China, with the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken abruptly postponing his key visit to Beijing in February this year.
The US National Security Council has referred NBC News to the Defence Department for comment.
In its response, Beijing maintained that the balloon was a Chinese "civilian airship" which had deviated from its planned route.
"The airship is from China. It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological purposes," the spokesperson of the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement posted on the Chinese foreign ministry's website.
On February 4, the US shot down the balloon off the coast of South Carolina.
"This afternoon, at the direction of President Biden, US fighter aircraft assigned to US Northern Command successfully brought down the high altitude surveillance balloon launched by and belonging to the People's Republic of China over the water off the coast of South Carolina in US airspace," Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin had said.
US officials said they tried to reconstruct the balloon from the debris recovered.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Jharkhand horror: Man kills live-in partner, chops body into 40 pieces
Ranchi (PTI): A 25-year-old man, who works as a butcher, allegedly strangled to death his live-in partner and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, was arrested.
The matter came to light after around a fortnight after the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village in Jariagarh police station on November 24.
Bhengra was in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman also from Khunti district, in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything and went back to the southern state without his wife to join her.
"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.
Inspector Ashok Singh who investigated the case said the man worked in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was expert in slicing chicken.
“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand," Singh told PTI.
Singh said that the woman, who was unaware of his marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. After reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man's village.
"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," Singh said.
The woman, however, had informed her mother that she had boarded a train and would be living with her partner, the police officer said.
Following the recovery of body parts, a bag was also found in the forest with the murdered woman's belongings including her Aadhaar card. The mother of the woman was called at the spot and she identified her daughter's belongings.
"The mother suspected the man behind the crime who after being nabbed by the police admitted to chopping the woman into pieces," the official added.
The incident has sent shockwaves among people in the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 still fresh in their memory.
Walker was killed by her live-in partner who chopped her body into pieces before dumping them in the jungle in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.
