Peon's post helped in procuring info for ISI
Kolkata, Dec 2, 2015, dhns:
Irshad Ansari, arrested on November 29 from Kolkata on suspicion of being a suspected ISI agent, was a peon at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE).
This low-level job helped him fade into the background and raised no suspicions even when he was regularly skimming off designs of combat vessels.
Sources said that 50-year-old Irshad confessed to bringing home designs of corvettes, frigates and patrolling boats designed and manufactured at GRSE.
“Irshad confessed to passing on these designs and blueprints to his handler with the Pakistani counter-intelligence service. His son Ashfaq travelled to Bangladesh and Pakistan to hand over the documents to their handler,” a source said.
GRSE, one of India’s leading defence contractors, has manufactured a number of patrol and combat vessels between 2011 and 2015, including frigates, anti-submarine warfare corvettes, and interceptor boats.
Though in most cases defence experts provided the designs, many were designed at GRSE’s workshop. Indian security agencies are trying to understand from Irshad which designs he had passed on to his handler. Officials found during interrogation of the three men that they had taken up specific roles.
“While Irshad used to collect the designs, Ashfaq studied and recorded these as photographs. He saved the photographs in memory cards and later handed them over to his handler,” an official said.
Sources pointed out that though Irshad was a contract worker at GRSE, he was promoted as peon a few years ago. “Since he worked in the planning department, where vessels were designed, he had easy access to such material,” an official said.Sources informed that being the peon, Irshad’s responsibility included shredding papers with design sketches.
“He used to do as told but later gathered up the torn pieces and took them home. Being a college student, Ashfaq is educated and he used to meticulously reconstruct these sheets and photograph them according to relevance,” a source said.
Authorities have found “solid evidence” of number of trips Ashfaq took to Dhaka and Karachi, he said. “Irshad was recruited when he was visiting his relatives in Karachi sometime in 2004. He later roped in Ashfaq and Jahangir,” an official said.
This low-level job helped him fade into the background and raised no suspicions even when he was regularly skimming off designs of combat vessels.
Sources said that 50-year-old Irshad confessed to bringing home designs of corvettes, frigates and patrolling boats designed and manufactured at GRSE.
“Irshad confessed to passing on these designs and blueprints to his handler with the Pakistani counter-intelligence service. His son Ashfaq travelled to Bangladesh and Pakistan to hand over the documents to their handler,” a source said.
GRSE, one of India’s leading defence contractors, has manufactured a number of patrol and combat vessels between 2011 and 2015, including frigates, anti-submarine warfare corvettes, and interceptor boats.
Though in most cases defence experts provided the designs, many were designed at GRSE’s workshop. Indian security agencies are trying to understand from Irshad which designs he had passed on to his handler. Officials found during interrogation of the three men that they had taken up specific roles.
“While Irshad used to collect the designs, Ashfaq studied and recorded these as photographs. He saved the photographs in memory cards and later handed them over to his handler,” an official said.
Sources pointed out that though Irshad was a contract worker at GRSE, he was promoted as peon a few years ago. “Since he worked in the planning department, where vessels were designed, he had easy access to such material,” an official said.Sources informed that being the peon, Irshad’s responsibility included shredding papers with design sketches.
“He used to do as told but later gathered up the torn pieces and took them home. Being a college student, Ashfaq is educated and he used to meticulously reconstruct these sheets and photograph them according to relevance,” a source said.
Authorities have found “solid evidence” of number of trips Ashfaq took to Dhaka and Karachi, he said. “Irshad was recruited when he was visiting his relatives in Karachi sometime in 2004. He later roped in Ashfaq and Jahangir,” an official said.
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