Honey Trap: Indian Navy Sailor Held For Leaking Defense Data To Female Pakistani Operative

Andhra Pradesh Police Counter Intelligence (CI) cell arrested 31-year-old Pradeep Mukherjee on October 3 at INS Agrani, a naval leadership training facility in Coimbatore.

Coimbatore: An Indian Navy sailor accused of "transmitting" classified maritime intelligence to a Pakistani operative was arrested, officials said on Sunday.

The Andhra Pradesh Police Counter Intelligence (CI) cell arrested 31-year-old Pradeep Mukherjee on October 3 at INS Agrani, a naval leadership training facility in Coimbatore.

The espionage operation involved a social media "honey-trap", news agency PTI reported, citing official sources.

Mukherjee, a West Bengal native who joined the Navy in 2014, was actively posted with the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam. At the time of his arrest, he was attending a management development course and had been at the Coimbatore facility for approximately one week.

A female Pakistani intelligence operative reportedly contacted Mukherjee several months ago. Over time, the handler leveraged the online relationship to extract sensitive data regarding strategic naval assets, fleet movements, and the operational framework of the Visakhapatnam base.

The CI cell, a specialised unit tasked with countering cross-border espionage and terror threats, initiated the investigation after detecting suspicious digital footprints linked to the sailor, subsequently placing him under surveillance.

A day before this incident came to the fore, Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh on Saturday had strongly cautioned defence personnel to remain vigilant against social media honey traps and digital espionage attempts.