Rajasthan Police (Intelligence) arrested two army Jawans for spying for Pakistan this week. They were lured by a social media account with the name Seerat on Facebook, an account operated by the notorious ISI.
The soldiers- Lance Naik Ravi Verma from Madhya Pradesh and Sepoy Vichitra Behera from Odisha were arrested from the Jodhpur railway station.
Behera was remanded to 5 days of police custody by a local court in Jaipur.
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The Rajasthan police is ascertaining the extent of damage and is examining the documents, if any that have been passed to Pakistan.
Social media is being increasingly used to honey trap armed forces personnel, senior government officials, scientists amongst others.
In the last few years, a scientist working in DRDO and an Air Force corporal posted at Pathankot were arrested after being honey trapped and compromised.
The Indian Army had issued a list of Do’s and Dont’s for its personnel as early as January 2019.
Some of the directive include not posting photographs while in uniform, not revealing locations, not accepting friend’s request from strangers etc.
A defence expert who didnt want to be named is of the opinion that the Army has not strictly enforced these rules and have been lackadaisical in punishing the rank and file of their institution.
Honey traps are considered to be one of the oldest techniques of recruiting an ‘asset’ in the world of espionage. Men/women are used to lure a potential ‘asset’ and once the asset has been compromised, he/she is blackmailed to share information with the hostile nation.