Steps being taken to curb honey trap cases: Parrikar

Steps being taken to curb honey trap cases: Parrikar

FPJ BureauUpdated: Friday, May 31, 2019, 07:00 PM IST
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Jaipur : Against the backdrop of an IAF official falling prey to a honey trap, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said all precautions are being taken to prevent such incidents which have so far been confined to the lower level.

On Saturday, Parrikar said that espionage activities on inquiries were found only at the lower level and the IAF is alert to find out if any officers were also similarly involved.

He said that the top officials have been told to stay on alert and find out if any espionage activities were on.

“I think such espionage activities are only at lower level and not at the higher level. Yet, we shall have to be cautious.

The airman and officers during recruitment and training are well counseled on the security aspects and also how they should not divulge information to others.

There are  clearly worded instructions on the use of social networking also and now after the experience of an IAF man being involved in passing information on social media, the ministry is framing new guidelines,” said Parrikar.

A young IAF airman ranked official Ranjith K K was arrested under the Official Secrets Act on December 30 last year for allegedly passing official secrets to a honey trap set up by one Damini McNought, who posed as a journalist on Facebook.

Pakistan’s intelligence agencies are using fake social media accounts with female names to befriend, lure and sometimes blackmail defence personnel into committing espionage.

The revelations came after Ranjith from Punjab’s Bathinda air force base was arrested for allegedly sharing secret documents with Pakistani agencies.

Ranjith was lured to work as a defence analyst for a UK-based magazine.

They added the 24-year-old single man — who was arrested under the Official Secrets Act on Monday — also had another female handler named Alphonsine Davis.

Cross-border spies tricked Ranjith by calling his mobile phone over the internet with the other party introducing herself, in a British accent, as McNaught and posing as an executive of a UK-based news magazine.

Ranjith was even interviewed before getting assigned for a job to extract information  for which he was promised payments. Ranjith received Rs 30,000 for the work.

Delhi police, who arrested Ranjith, found that a few serving defence personnel are being pulled into the espionage network through these honey traps. Some fictitious Facebook accounts of women are being used for this.

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