Sharing of SIM Cards & OTPs with Pak intelligence: 2 aides of mastermind detained

Bhubaneswar: In the latest development, the Special Task Force (STF) on Sunday have detained two aides of the mastermind ITI teacher Pathanisamant Lenka who procured huge numbers of SIM cards and sharing one-time passwords (OTP) with Pakistani Intelligence Operatives (PIO) and ISI agents in Pakistan as well as in India.

The Special Task force have picked the accused from Jajpur district on charges of being a terrorist. The accused mobiles will be sent to the forensic lab for more investigation.

The officials of the STF have sent all information regarding the case to National Investigative Agency (NIA) and Intelligence Bureau (IB). If required IT experts will investigate the social media handles.

The mastermind Lenka will be brought into remand on Monday. The STF had approached the court for 5-day remand of Pathanisamanta Lenka. He had contacts with Pakistani ISI agents in Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat and West-Bengal. During probe the STF have got shocking information regarding this case.

The accused fraudulently procuring huge numbers of SIMs in other’s names and selling the OTPs to various clients including some PIO and ISI agents in Pakistan and India. In return, they would be paid by some Pakistani agents based in India. They were also in touch with a female PIO agent who was arrested last year in an Official Secrets Act and Honey-Trap case in Rajasthan,” STF said in a statement.

These OTPs were then used to create various accounts and channels on social media like Whatsapp, Telegram, Facebook and Instagram and also on online shopping sites like Amazon and Flipkart. These are also used in opening email accounts. People will think that these accounts are owned by an Indian but actually operated from Pakistan.