Suspected ISI agent arrested in UP's Rampur
Lucknow/Rampur (UP)(PTI): An alleged agent of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur on Sunday by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force.
Shahzad was apprehended by the STF Moradabad unit following inputs about his alleged involvement in cross-border smuggling and espionage activities for the ISI. The STF said Shahzad was allegedly passing sensitive information related to national security to his handlers.
He travelled to Pakistan several times over the years and was allegedly smuggling cosmetics, clothes, spices, and other items across the border, the agency alleged.
Shahzad, a resident of Tanda in Rampur, has been arrested under relevant sections, including espionage-related provisions, it said in a statement.
A 24-year-old youth, who was recently arrested in the Panipat district of Haryana for allegedly supplying sensitive information to some individuals in Pakistan, hailed from the Kairana district of Uttar Pradesh.
The suspect, Nauman Ilahi (24), also was allegedly in touch with a Pak-based ISI handler, Haryana Police sources had said on Thursday.
Ilahi, who worked as a factory security guard, was nabbed on Tuesday. He was reportedly staying with his sister and brother-in-law at Hali Colony in Panipat.
On March 13, the Uttar Pradesh ATS had arrested an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Hazratpur in the Firozabad district for allegedly sending sensitive and confidential information to a Pakistani agent, who had befriended him on Facebook.
The accused was identified as Ravindra Kumar, a chargeman at the factory.
"In the last few days, the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) has been receiving information about handlers of a Pakistani spy agency, under pseudonyms, luring staff at the External Affairs Ministry and the Government of India, and offering them money to obtain confidential and classified information and documents, which could have posed a threat to India's internal and external security," the ATS had said in a statement.
"On a thorough probe, it was found that Ravindra Kumar, a chargeman at the ordnance factory in Hazratpur, was sending sensitive and confidential information to a Pakistani agent, who was his Facebook friend," the statement said.
The ATS squad said they found sensitive and confidential documents in Kumar's phone, which he had sent to the Pakistani agent. He could not offer a satisfactory explanation for this, they said.
"During interrogation, Kumar said he has been working in the Ordnance Factory since 2006, and as a chargeman since 2009. Around July 2024, he became friends with Neha Sharma on Facebook. He frequently chatted with her on WhatsApp, via audio and video calls," the ATS said.
"Ravindra Kumar, in the greed of becoming rich, used to send her confidential information. He also said he used to frequently delete the WhatsApp chats, but some chats and confidential documents remained in the phone," the ATS said.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
