New Delhi: Initial investigations in the recent espionage cases revealed that a former sub-inspector of Pakistan Police acted as a key handler of Indian influencers and groomed them for spying for Pakistan, reported The Times of India. The former Pakistan Police official has been identified as Nasir.
After Nasir voluntarily retired from the police service, he was reportedly recruited by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) a few years ago. The former Pakistan Police officer turned into a YouTuber and acted as a bridge between Indian influencers and ISI.
Nasir and his female accomplice, named Naushaba Shehzad aka Madam N, were given the task of grooming Indian influencers, reported TOI citing sources.
As per the report, Nasir was assigned the task of connecting with Indian YouTubers visiting Pakistan. Then espionage tasks would be assigned to these YouTubers. Notably, Nasis's name also reportedly cropped up during an investigation of Punjab-based YouTuber Jasbir Singh, who was arrested earlier this week from Rupnagar.
"After initial onboarding, Nasir would connect Indian YouTubers visiting Pakistan with high commission official Danish and others who would then assign them espionage tasks and invite them as guests to the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi," reported the media house quoting an investigator as saying.
Nasir and Naushaba even reportedly facilitated visas for those Indian YouTubers who agreed to work for them and even helped them shoot pro-Pakistan videos.
In The past month, several people allegedly spying for Pakistan were arrested from different parts of the country. Among the arrested people were two YouTubers - Haryana-based Jyoti Malhotra and Singh. Both these YouTubers were also reportedly in contact with each other.
Malhotra was arrested on May 17. In 2023, she had travelled to Pakistan thrice in the past three years. She also visited Bali, Indonesia, with one of the Pakistan intelligence operatives (PIOs). Malhotra was taken into custody after intelligence inputs revealed her suspected links with PIOs. She runs a YouTube channel, "Travel With Jo" and was in touch with expelled Pakistan High Commission staffer Ehsan-ur-Rahim alias Danish and another PIO named Jutt Randhawa. Even Singh was reportedly with these people.
