Another alleged ISI agent held from Agripada

Javed Naviwala, an angadia, is suspected of sending money to ISI operatives

May 05, 2017 12:11 am | Updated 12:11 am IST

Mumbai : The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Thursday made another arrest from the city in connection with the alleged international espionage case busted in Faizabad, U.P. on Wednesday. Arrested accused Javed Naviwala, 31, an angadia operator from Agripada, was being watched by the Maharashtra ATS since 2008, sources said.

According to sources, Naviwala is a native of Dhoraji in Rajkot, Gujarat who has spent most of his life in Mumbai and graduated in commerce from a city college. Angadia s transport large amounts of cash for businessman who need it for daily transactions, and are favoured by jewellers and merchants dealing in precious metals and stones.

State ATS sources said Altaf Qureshi, 33, who was arrested from Pydhonie by the U.P. ATS on Wednesday, was working with Naviwala and had sent money on the latter’s instructions to Aftab Ali, who was arrested in Faizabad for allegedly spying for the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). The UP ATS claimed Ali was gathering sensitive information about the military and passing it on to his ISI handlers.

A State ATS officer, who requested anonymity, said, “Naviwala and Qureshi hail from Dhoraji, and Qureshi came to work for Naviwala in Mumbai in 2009. The duo worked together till 2014, when Naviwala had to shut down his business. He restarted it in 2015 and Qureshi came back to work for him. Both have relatives in Pakistan, and it was through his relatives in that country that Naviwala came in contact with the ISI.”

IG (UP ATS) Aseem Arun said in Lucknow that leads provided Ali had led to the arrests of Qureshi from Masjid Bunder and Naviwala from Yusuf Manzil building at Agripada. He said the trio was involved in an espionage racket with Ali and maintained constant touch with officials at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.

Pictures of the Cantonment area in Faizabad were recovered from Ali’s phone, and he was allegedly keeping a close watch on the movement of troops in the area, especially between Faizabad and Lucknow, besides the deployment of army battalions.

The U.P. ATS was continuously getting reports about military information being leaked to intelligence officials in the Pakistani High Commission and ISI and the agency was working on it through electronic surveillance, sources said. The ATS got cracking after U.P. Police recently warned of a possible terror attack in the State by ISI-trained terrorists. “The group has reportedly been asked to target Ayodhya, Varanasi, Vrindavan, and the Taj Mahal in Agra,” U.P. police said.

The perfect cover

ATS officers said belonging to Dhoraji provided the perfect cover to Qureshi to communicate with people in Pakistan. They said over the years, around 20,000 people from Dhoraji have settled in Karachi, which even has a Dhoraji Street. So, regular conversations with Pakistani numbers were not suspicious. “Naviwala has also spoken to people in several other countries over the past few years.”

Naviwala's role, according to investigations, was limited to sending money to ISI operatives on direct instructions from Pakistan, usually through Qureshi. “Earlier this week, a caller from Pakistan told Naviwala that a friend needed money for charity, and asked him to send ₹15,000 to an account number. On Naviwala’s instructions, Qureshi sent the money to the account, which was Ali's,” another officer said.

The Maharashtra ATS is calling for details of bank accounts held by Qureshi and Naviwala. The UP ATS on Wednesday obtained transit remand for the duo btill May 7, and will be taking them to UP. — With PTI inputs

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