On 21st December (Thursday), a technician working at the Cochin Shipyard was arrested for allegedly sharing photos and videos of ships under construction for the Indian Navy with his Facebook friend ‘Angel Payal’. However, a preliminary investigation has revealed that he was not the first target of ‘Angel Payal’ to relay sensitive information, as reported by The New Indian Express on 24th December.
The preliminary assessment has found that Angel Payal is a name commonly used by Pakistan-based intelligence operatives (PIO). They befriend people working at sensitive locations through social media and extract high-value information.
Incidentally, the same name had surfaced earlier in a spying case that was reported from Mumbai’s naval dockyard. On 13th December, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had arrested Gaurav Patil who was working as an apprentice at the naval dockyard. He allegedly shared information about the movement of Indian Navy ships and sent pictures of the naval dockyard to two women named Payal Angel and Arti Sharma in May 2023, The New Indian Express reported citing highly placed sources.
After Patil’s arrest, Maharashtra ATS went on to arrest a West Bengal resident, Mukta Mahato, who too was allegedly sharing sensitive information with Payal Angel.
The Source said, “The name has surfaced in several spying cases before. In some places, the name used is Payal Angel, and in some profiles, they use the names Angel Payal, Angel P, and Payal A. The preliminary assessment is that these are Pakistan-based intelligence operatives who are active on social media platforms. Other names repeatedly appear in spy cases reported across the country. These methods are used by foreign agencies to garner sensitive information.”
A contract technician and a resident of Manjeri, Malappuram, Sreenish Pookkodan was arrested on 20th December for photographing an under-construction defense ship and gathering information about VVIPs at the Cochin Shipyard. The Ernakulam Town South police had arrested Sreenish in this case. Currently, they are awaiting reports from Facebook and the cyber forensic laboratory to analyse the information shared by the accused individuals with the Pakistan-based intelligence operative.
An officer said, “During the interrogation, Sreenish said he took the pictures of ships and sensitive places in the shipyard on the insistence of Angel Payal. However, the mobile phone of the accused is being checked to ascertain the kind of information Sreenish shared with the Pakistan-based intelligence operative.”
The authorities are investigating whether Sreenish received any payment for the images he shared. To ascertain this, the police have obtained his bank statements to scrutinise any transactions.
Meanwhile, there had been multiple cases in which Pakistan-based intelligence operatives posing with fake female aliases had honey-trapped Indian nationals to gather sensitive information. While the aliases have changed, the modus operandi appears to be exactly the same. Honey trapping is a strategy in espionage where an agent cultivates a relationship with a civilian in order to exploit their trust or gain access to confidential information.
In August 2023, a Courier delivery man was arrested after he was allegedly honey-trapped by a Pakistani agent pretending to be ‘Aarushi Sharma’ and leaked defence information. The accused provided the Pakistani intelligence agency with sensitive military secrets and was apprehended by the Kolkata Special Task Force (STF). The operative befriended him through a fake Facebook profile named ‘Aarushi Sharma’.
Earlier in July this year, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) dismantled a Pakistani intelligence agency (ISI) spy network operating in the Kutch region. The arrest of an individual named Vishal Badia unearthed the case involving a honeytrap, in which he was compromised and subsequently divulged sensitive information about Indian Security Forces to Pakistan. Investigations had revealed that Vishal had been maintaining communication with a virtual online person Aditi.
On 11th July, the Uttar Pradesh Police arrested a Home Ministry employee identified as Naveen Pal for sending significantly confidential documents to Pakistan. It came to light that Naveen was honey-trapped by a woman who was believed to be an ISI agent from Pakistan. According to the reports, the ISI agent posed herself as Anjali from Kolkata, West Bengal, and trapped Naveen Pal to get access to the confidential documents from the Ministry.
