Recruits were targeted through social media, honey-trapping and cash inducements, with payments routed through hawala channels and encrypted apps
08 May, 2026 – Chandigarh : As many as 457 Pakistani spies or individuals linked to them have been identified and arrested across 17 states and Union Territories since Operation Sindoor in May 2025, as Pakistan sharply stepped up espionage activities against India following its military defeat in the operation, according to a Punjab Police report on Pakistan’s ISI.
The report states that the ISI noticeably surged Pakistan Intelligence Operatives (PIOs) deployments after Operation Sindoor, tasking operatives to collect sensitive information on troop movements, strategic sites and border deployments. Recruits were targeted through social media, honey-trapping and cash inducements, with payments routed through hawala channels and encrypted apps. Some spies managed to install solar powered CCTV cameras near military and police installations, but were busted in time.
Director General of Police, Punjab, told The Tribune, that Punjab Police generated and disseminated multiple actionable intelligence inputs to other states and Central agencies, leading to the identification of 437 individuals in 2025 and another 17 up to March 2026 who were found to be in contact with PIOs.
“Punjab police is pro-active as the state is the first on the target of the ISI. Our inputs facilitated a proactive approach, resulting in arrests as well as timely pre-emption of operatives before sensitive information could be compromised,” he said.
Solar cameras at military sites
In what officials described as a significant new espionage tool, Punjab Police’s Counter Intelligence Wing detected, in the last week of March 2026 and the first week of April 2026, that ISI-sponsored operatives were tasking local recruits to install SIM-enabled solar cameras at strategic and military locations to remotely monitor military activity and transmit surveillance footage to handlers across the border in exchange for monetary incentives.
Individuals tasked with installing the devices were intercepted before the cameras could be operationalised. An advisory was subsequently issued to other agencies, and statewide verification and sanitisation drives were conducted, resulting in the detection and disruption of multiple such espionage attempts.
The report states that Punjab Police had detected this threat and initiated field action well before it came to public notice through a Delhi Police Special Cell operation on April 11, 2026.
Nationwide reach
Punjab Police’s intelligence inputs led to action not only in Punjab but across Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Telangana, Manipur, Bihar and Nagaland.
Punjab Police said it remains firmly committed to safeguarding national integrity through continuous monitoring and neutralisation of PIOs involved in espionage, terrorism, smuggling and other anti-national activities.
Those arrested post-Operation Sindoor:
- Jyoti Rani, a YouTuber from Hisar, Haryana, arrested on May 17, 2025, for allegedly maintaining regular contact with Ehsan-ur-Rahim alias Danish, an official at the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi. Danish allegedly introduced her to other PIOs during her visit to Pakistan. He was declared persona non-grata and expelled by the Government of India on May 13, 2025.
- Nauman Ilahi, a resident of Kairana, Uttar Pradesh, working as a security guard in a factory in Panipat, Haryana, was arrested by Haryana Police on May 16, 2025, for allegedly transmitting information to PIOs for two years. Multiple passports and suspicious documents were recovered from his residence.
- Devinder Singh of Kaithal, Haryana, was arrested the same day for espionage. He had allegedly visited Pakistan via the Kartarpur Corridor in November 2024 and shared photographs of the Patiala Military Cantonment with a PIO.
- In Rajasthan, a cleric identified as Maulvi Kasim, who allegedly received training in Lahore and travelled to India a week before the Pahalgam terror attack, was arrested on May 25, 2025. He allegedly received approximately two lakh Pakistani rupees in instalments in exchange for providing intelligence. His brother Asim was subsequently arrested by Delhi Police from Deeg, Rajasthan, on June 1, 2025, for allegedly supplying Indian SIM cards to PIOs.
- Abhishek Bhardwaj of Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, was arrested on May 29, 2025, for sharing sensitive information. He was allegedly in contact with Shahzad Bhatti, a Pakistan-based criminal suspected to be operating from Brazil and Dubai, believed to be acting under ISI direction. Bhatti came into the spotlight after a video call surfaced showing him in conversation with Lawrence Bishnoi, currently lodged in Gujarat jail.
Nine arrested in Punjab
In Punjab, nine individuals were arrested in six separate cases.
- Suraj Masih and Phalaksher Masih of Ajnala, Amritsar, allegedly leaked sensitive information and photographs of an Army cantonment and an air base in Amritsar to a PIO introduced to them by one Harpreet Singh alias Pittu alias Happy, currently lodged in Amritsar Central Jail under the NDPS Act. Sukhpreet Singh and Karanbir Singh, both from Gurdaspur, were also arrested in May 2025.
- Gagandeep Singh of Tarn Taran was arrested on June 3, 2025, for allegedly sharing critical information on army movements, troop deployments and strategic locations during Operation Sindoor. He was found to have connections with designated Khalistani terrorist Gopal Singh Chawla.
- Jasbir Singh, a YouTuber from Rupnagar, was arrested by SSOC Mohali for allegedly being in contact with PIO Shakir alias Jutt Randhawa, affiliated with a terrorist network involved in weapons and explosives supply into India. Jasbir had visited Pakistan on three occasions in 2020, 2021 and 2024 and was also in contact with Jyoti and Ehsan-ur-Rahim alias Danish.
The Tribune