NEW DELHI: Moving ahead in its probe in the Andhra Pradesh espionage case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday carried out searches at four locations in Gujarat and Maharashtra on the premises linked to suspects in the case.
An NIA spokesperson here said that the anti-terror probe agency sleuths carried out searches at the premises of suspects in Gujarat’s Godhra and Maharashtra’s Buldana.
During searches, the agency sleuths seized digital devices, suspicious SIM cards and incriminating documents.
The official said that the case was initially registered on January 10, 2020 at AP Counter Intelligence Cell police station in Vijayawada and NIA took over the case on December 23 last year.
The official also stated that the case is related to the involvement of Pakistani agents in espionage activities in India.
“NIA’s probe has revealed that they had conspired with other accused persons based in Visakhapatnam, Mumbai, Gujarat etc. for gathering sensitive information for conducting terror acts in India,” the official said.
“Indian SIM cards were fraudulently procured and OTPs were received through their Indian associates for activation of WhatsApp by Pak-based handlers which was then used to establish contact with defence personnel to elicit sensitive information related to vital installations,” the official concluded.