Anand: The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) today arrested a person from the town of Tarapur for his key role in assisting the spy activities of Pakistan. The accused was originally a Pakistani citizen who later acquired Indian citizenship. He had sent an Indian sim card to Pakistan through his relatives when he visited Pakistan. The accused also generated and sent OTP and activated a Whatsapp account that helped Pakistani spy agency to sent trojan files into mobile phones of Indian people, mainly the Army people.

ગુજરાતના આતંકવાદ વિરોધી દળે ઉઘાડું પાડ્યું પાકિસ્તાની જાસૂસીનું નેટવર્કઃ એકની ધરપકડ pic.twitter.com/JytzJboBwA

— દેશગુજરાત ગુજરાતી (@DeshGujaratG) October 20, 2023

The accused Labhshankar Maheshwari from Tarapur in Anand district of Central Gujarat, facilitated espionage activities for Pakistan by sending an Indian simcard to Pakistan and activation of Whatsapp account in it. The accused was in contact with a person who was in touch with the Pakisani High Commission in the national capital New Delhi. The accused got in to touch with this person by reference of his relatives in Pakistan. The accused received favor of grant of visa speedily to visit Pakistan for himself and his relatives by the Pakistani High Commission.

Gujarat ATS SP Om Prakash Jat stated, “Gujarat ATS had received intelligence input from the military indicating that a Pakistani army member or agent was using WhatsApp with an Indian SIM card. He was using WhatsApp to target personnel and their families in the Indian Army and institutions related to the Indian Army, such as training schools. After establishing contact with them, the accused sitting in Pakistan using Indian Whatsapp account would send Remote Access Trojan (RAT) malware to access phones and steal sensitive information, which he would later send to a command and control server situated in another country.”

“The SIM card was issued under the name Muhammad Saklain Thaim from Jamnagar. It was activated on a mobile device belonging to Azgar Hajibhai. After activation, the SIM card was delivered in Anand, specifically to Tarapur, to an individual named Labhshankar Duryodhan Maheshwari on the instructions of a person associated with the Pakistan Embassy. Labhshankar Maheshwari is originally a Pakistani citizen who came to India in 1999 and later acquired Indian citizenship. His extended family still resides in Pakistan. He had applied for a Pakistani visa to meet his family, and to expedite the visa process, he was introduced to a man working with the Pakistani Embassy. He was continuously in contact with the person who also helped get a visa for his sister and his niece, the official added.

“The man working with the Pakistan Embassy instructed Labhshankar to receive that SIM card and send that SIM to Pakistan with his sister after installing WhatsApp on his phone. The WhatsApp number in question is still active in Pakistan, and they are targeting the family members of Indian Army personnel,” SP Jat further said. DeshGujarat