Pak spies admit they came to collect information on defence

Pak spies admit they came to collect information on defence
UNITED NEWS OF INDIA

AMRITSAR, FEB 23: Two Pakistani spies, who were nabbed by Customs officials when they alighted from the Samjhauta Express at Attari Railway Station on Monday, have confessed that they were on the pay rolls of the Pakistani army and had been sent to India to collect defence-related information.

The duo Kamaluddin and Mumtaz Ali along with Immigration Inspector Roop Chand who had put the stamp of clearance on their passports after accepting a bribe of Rs 500, were produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate here today.

The three have been remanded to police custody till February 29 and were later taken to the joint interrogation centre to be grilled for further information.

Customs officials recovered certain sensitive defence documents pertaining to the Indian Army from the false bottom of the briefcases which they were carrying. The officials claimed that the duo could be part of a larger Pakistani spy-ring using the Samjhauta Express to enter the country and then get back across the border after completing the task assigned to them.

Talking to newspersons outside the court of the judicial magistrate, one of the spies, Kamaluddin, admitted that he had been working for the Pakistan military intelligence since 1970, when he made his first trip to India through the land bo rder.

``My main job has been to collect defence documents from spies who are based in India and then deliver these to the Pakistan military intelligence,'' he said.

Regarding his latest trip, Kamaluddin said that he had been paid Rs 10,000 in Pakistani currency for delivering certain Indian Army-related documents prepared by the Pakistan military intelligence to a certain contact in New Delhi. He said he had no idea about the contents of the documents recovered from him.

The other spy, Mumtaz Ali, said that he was not aware of the duty assigned to him. ``Kamaluddin had hired me and helped prepare the necessary documents,'' he said.

Kamaluddin disclosed that he had made his last trip to India also on board the Samjhauta Express. Though Kamaluddin refused to directly admit that he was a spy, preliminary interrogation revealed that he had been at the job even prior to the 1971 Indo-Pak conflict.

Kamaluddin admitted that all travel documents were prepared by the Pakistan military intelligence to facilitate his entry into India. Along with the sensitive documents, fake Indian passports were also recovered by Customs officials from the two spies whose final destination was New Delhi.