US Officials Traced Internet Interceptions to Andaman on Headley Tip-off: Report
The Army Major recently kept in ‘safe custody’ of Military Intelligence after US intelligence alerted Indian authorities saying that he passed on classified information to Pakistan, actually came to attention to American officials following leads given by Pakistani-born American national and Lashkar operative David Coleman Headley, said media reports.
In reaction to a report of a national daily, senior Defence Ministry officials said that Headley had told the US officials of the Internet Protocol address of an ISI operative with whom he was in touch, reports said.
They said that interceptions of traffic on that IP address led to the dispatch of a photograph of a serving Indian Army Brigadier from a computer in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, said reports.
As part of the Indo-US exchanges on the Headley case, this piece of information was also provided to Indian intelligence agencies and the officer was called for questioning to New Delhi.
Later, forensic examination of the hard disk of his computer revealed erased files containing classified defence information, all of which had been transmitted to the same IP address in Pakistan.
Nevertheless, the Defence Ministry clarified that “the case was still under investigation and so far there are no evidences to suggest an espionage case”, said reports.
The ministry described the case as one of ‘hacking by an external agency’ which their officials now confirm is the ISI, reports said.
Besides, it said that after a probe, the officer has since returned to his unit in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and was not in ‘safe custody’ as reported, reports said.
(Based on internet reports)
