A case was registered under BNS sections 61(2) and 152 and sections 3 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act, police said.Four men were arrested and five juveniles detained on Friday for allegedly running a cross-border espionage network that filmed military establishments, railway stations and other sensitive installations across the country and transmitted photographs, videos and GPS coordinates to foreign handlers, the Ghaziabad police said.Officers said that the main accused — identified as Naushad Ali, a resident of Bihar’s Muzaffarpur, and Sameer alias Shooter from Bhagalpur — are currently at large.Officers said Suhail Malik, identified as the alleged key handler of the gang, was arrested earlier. “The accused arrested on Friday were identified as Ganesh (20) from Nepal’s Gulmi district; Vivek (18) from Bihar’s Purnia; Gagan Kumar Prajapati (22) from Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut; and Durgesh Nishad (26) who lives in Navi Mumbai but hails from Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur,” an officer said.Additional Commissioner of Police (Ghaziabad) Raj Karan Nayyar said that on March 14, officers at Kaushambi police station were informed that some people were sharing videos and photos of railway stations and other important locations with some foreign numbers, and that they were recruiting other youths for such jobs too. “Six people were arrested. An SIT was formed. Names of 11 people emerged. Nine of them were held on Friday,” he said. Police said the six accused arrested earlier included a woman and that footage and locations of sensitive locations were found on their phones.The ADCP said that the accused revealed that they were “assigned tasks” by people operating from other countries. “They had set up some solar-powered CCTV cameras. Further investigation is underway.” Police said two of these CCTV cameras were secretly installed at Delhi Cantonment and Sonipat railway stations, and the accused shared the feed with handlers abroad in real time.A case was registered under BNS sections 61(2) and 152 and sections 3 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act, police said.According to the police, the accused had installed a special application on their phones for transmission of GPS coordinates, and had been trained virtually by the foreign handlers.Story continues below this adPolice said the network was also engaged in another fraud. Members would share OTPs using Indian SIM cards — obtained through snatching, purchase from agents, or using ones registered in their own or family members’ names — enabling the foreign handlers to run WhatsApp accounts linked to Indian numbers. Payment for each task ranged from Rs 500 to Rs 15,000, and was routed through UPI, but collected as cash from Jan Seva Kendras and shops, to make sure there is no financial trail.Police said the gang specifically recruited “technically skilled but financially desperate” young men, mobile mechanics, CCTV operators and computer technicians. “The network had planned to plant hidden cameras at 50 more locations across the country. Investigators are trying to identify these spots,” said an officer.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:delhi