KARACHI: Pakistani police on Wednesday said they had arrested four local fishermen suspected of spying for India’s main intelligence agency RAW, accusing them of sending sensitive images of military installations to Indian handlers and receiving payments, liquor, and weapons in return.
Accusations of spying have long fueled tensions between nuclear-armed neighbors Pakistan and India, especially in coastal regions like Sindh, where fishing communities often unknowingly drift across poorly demarcated maritime borders.
Police said the latest arrests were made during a joint operation with intelligence services, according to a press conference by Shoaib Mehmood Memon, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) with Karachi’s Special Investigation Unit (SIU).
Memon said the suspects, identified as local fishermen by profession, had carried out surveillance of “sensitive installations” in the city’s Malir district and provided visual material to Indian agents.
“Indian intelligence agency RAW is recruiting vulnerable individuals through cross-border channels, including fishing routes,” said Memon. “The suspects used to call Colonel Ranjit their boss. He was in regular contact with them.”
