COIMBATORE: In a major counter-espionage breakthrough, a 31-year-old Indian Navy sailor was arrested in Coimbatore on Saturday for leaking sensitive defence information to a female Pakistani intelligence operative, who lured him into a honeytrap.The Counter Intelligence (CI) Cell of Andhra Pradesh police arrested Pradeep Mukherjee of West Bengalhile he was attending a management development course at INS Agrani, a premier naval leadership training establishment at Red Fields in Coimbatore.Pradeep, who was commissioned into the Indian Navy as a sailor in 2014, was posted as a sailor under the Eastern Naval Command based in Visakhapatnam. He arrived at INS Agrani barely a week ago to attend a management development course.According to an official source, Pradeep fell prey to an online honeytrap laid by a female Pakistani operative, who had contacted him on social media a few months ago. The handler gradually befriended the sailor before extracting sensitive details concerning strategic naval assets, fleet movements and operational setups linked to Visakhapatnam naval base.The Counter Intelligence (CI) Cell of Andhra Pradesh police — an elite wing focused on neutralizing terror modules, cross-border espionage and high-security threats — placed Pradeep Mukherjee under surveillance after detecting suspicious digital footprints. Once his role in transmitting classified information was confirmed, investigators secured clearance from naval authorities to arrest him.A specialized CI team arrived at INS Agrani, Coimbatore, on Saturday morning and took him into custody. Local police officials were formally informed about the arrest. Investigators subsequently produced the sailor before a local magistrate to secure a transit warrant before taking him to the Counter Intelligence headquarters in Vijayawada in the evening for further custodial interrogation.A probe is under way to determine the exact nature and volume of the defence files compromised, as well as possible financial transactions routed to Pradeep through hawala or digital payment channels.
