Indian spies expelled from Australia for trying to steal secrets: Report
Canberra: Australia has kicked out an unspecified number of Indian intelligence operatives who were caught trying to steal secrets about sensitive defence projects and airport security, as well as classified information on trade relationships, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has reported.
According to Kashmir Media Service, a so-called “nest of spies” disrupted by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) in 2020 was also closely monitoring Indians living in Australia and developing close relationships with current and former politicians, the ABC reported.
Reportedly, the intelligence officers from the Research and Analysis Wing, India’s foreign intelligence service, had been expelled from Australia in 2020.
The revelations by ABC were not entirely new as ASIO director-general Mike Burgess had alluded to a spy ring in an annual threat assessment in 2021, though he didn’t name the country behind the activity. “The spies developed targeted relationships with current and former politicians, a foreign embassy and a state police service,” Burgess had said in a speech at ASIO’s headquarters in Canberra in March 2021.
“They monitored their country’s diaspora community. They tried to obtain classified information about Australia’s trade relationships. They asked a public servant to provide information on security protocols at a major airport,” he had said in the speech that was reported by the Australian media
Burgess also spoke about how the “nest of spies” successfully cultivated and recruited an Australian government security clearance holder with access to “sensitive details of defence technology”.
ABC said national security and government figures had confirmed that India’s foreign intelligence service was responsible for the “nest of spies” and that a number of Indian officials were removed from Australia by the government.
In 2022, when delivering his next Annual Threat Assessment, Burgess had said that espionage is “conducted by countries we consider friends — friends with sharp elbows and voracious intelligence requirements”.
