West Bengal’s Special Task Force has arrested two individuals, including a suspected Pakistani national identified as Rana Rauf alias Wahab Alam, near the India-Bangladesh border. Investigators believe he has links to Pakistan’s ISI and was involved in espionage activities, including tracking military and railway movements.

Rana Rauf, reportedly a resident of Faisalabad in Pakistan, was apprehended in Bangaon, North 24 Parganas district, following a search operation based on specific intelligence.

He had allegedly entered India illegally through Nepal in 2012 after spending some time there. Officials revealed that he subsequently settled in West Bengal and assumed the identity of Wahab Alam using forged documents such as Aadhaar and voter identity cards.

Investigators suspect Rauf maintained links with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and collected information of potential intelligence value. His activities included photographing railway stations, tracks, and train movements, as well as monitoring the movements of armed forces. Authorities are examining electronic devices and documents recovered during the operation to determine whether this information was transmitted outside India.

The second person arrested, identified in some reports as Muhammad Izaz or Md Aziz, was taken into custody from Topsia in Kolkata. He allegedly had direct contact with Rauf and assisted him in securing fraudulent Indian identity documents and establishing a local support system.

Investigators believe he knew Rauf from Nepal and later helped him integrate into West Bengal society. Reports suggest Aziz even travelled with Rauf to Nepal on multiple occasions and married a local woman there.

Officials are scrutinising telephone numbers linked to Rauf to identify recipients of the transmitted photographs and to ascertain whether payments were made through hawala or other informal financial channels. Both suspects are being interrogated to establish whether they were part of a wider espionage network and to identify additional facilitators who may have assisted Rauf during his long stay in India.

Lawyers representing the STF told the Barasat court that Rauf, also referred to as Rana Rauf Khalid, had been tracking the movements of Army and railway officials since entering India.

Both suspects attempted to delete data from their mobile phones before being apprehended. The court has remanded them in police custody until 26 August for further investigation.

The arrests highlight the continuing threat of cross-border espionage and the use of forged documents to infiltrate Indian society.

They also underscore the importance of vigilance along the India-Bangladesh border, which has historically been exploited for illegal crossings and intelligence operations. The STF is now focusing on dismantling any broader network linked to these suspects and preventing further attempts to compromise national security.

PTI