Title - IB warns Railways against sharing Army information over phone

Ambala: A phone call from Pakistan that was received at the Jodhpur Railway Station in Rajasthan prompted the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to issue an alert to the Railway authorities asking them not to share any information related to Army movement by train over the phone.In the alert, a copy of which is available with The Tribune, the IB stated that ‘Pakistan Intelligence Operatives (PIOs) were collecting tactical information related to deployment and movement of defence forces by employing a novel and deceptive modus operandi’.The alert further read, ‘The PIOs have been making calls directly to the targeted personnel under the assumed identities of senior defence officers.’While explaining the modus operandi, the IB said, “In order to camouflage their calls, the PIOs use computer software and voice over internet protocol to ensure that the mobile phones of the target show the incoming call to be originating from Indian numbers and the PIOs are able to extract sensitive information from the unsuspecting Indian nationals.”The IB also stated, “Although the targeted personnel often refused to entertain telephone queries from unknown persons, the PIOs through devious combination of authority, request, threat and pleading still manage to extract sensitive information.”The alert also revealed that PIOs called on six Indian numbers on June 7 using fake number 001123016782, during which the ‘PIO was seen making frantic efforts to collect information regarding the current location of the 18 Armoured Brigade’.

The PIOs also used several identities to contact a number of persons, including Army school authorities, Railway movement clerks and Army units.

The PIOs had also made an attempt on January 13 to collect information from the Divisional Railway manager’s office at Hanumangarh junction in Bikaner, Rajasthan, and identified himself as an official of the Movement Control Officer, Bathinda, to collect information about the movement of military special trains.

The IB stated that while most of the respondents asked the PIOs to call through the Army line, they managed to get information about movement of the military special train on January 10 and January 12.

In the alert, the IB said since the PIOs were targeting the Railway authorities posted near the defence installations, there was an urgent need to launch an intensive campaign to educate the employees about this new form of espionage against the country by Pakistan intelligence agencies.

The IB has also asked the Railway authorities to reiterate the existing instructions to all concerned to exercise utmost caution and not to divulge any secret information while interacting over telephone with any unknown person pretending to be an armed force officer.

‘Phoney’ espionage

Pakistan Intelligence Operatives (PIOs) are collecting tactical information related to deployment and movement of defence forces

The PIOs make phone calls directly to the targeted personnel under the assumed identities of senior defence officers

Though the targeted personnel often refuse to entertain telephone queries from unknown persons, the PIOs still manage to extract sensitive information

The PIOs made attempts to gather information about Army movement and deployment on January 13 and June 7

They managed to get information about movement of the military special train on January 10 and January 12