Five ISI agents arrested — UP Police

Police recovered documents related to military activities, hotel bills from Kathmandu, two passbooks recording lakhs of rupees deposited in banks, a passport and a fax machine used to send documents to Nepal. The raid began on Tuesday night and continued till today morning.

“We hope to catch the other gang members soon,” Gyaneshwar Jha, ADG (Law and Order), said. Police said the agents were frequent visitors to Nepal and the Pakistan Embassy there. “They used to get payments in dollars for supplying information related to the Army and the Ministry of Defence,” he said.

Around 36 suspected ISI agents have been arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police in the past two years. The blasts in Kanpur, Lucknow and on the Sabarmati Express — in which RDX was used — are suspected to have been triggered by the ISI.

Police launched a special drive after these blasts on Independence Day eve, which left nine persons dead. Three persons arrested on suspicion are said to be activists of the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Alarmed at the involvement of SIMI activists in disruptive activities, the State Government has urged the Centre to ban the outfit.

“The ISI has a well-spread network, and its agents easily get mixed up with the population, especially in Kanpur, Moradabad, Bareilly, Muzzafarnagar and Meerut where the concentration of Muslims is greater. So far, no major drive has been started to identify the agents, which is why the ISI operates with ease in the state,” said a senior police official.