From solar-powered cameras to those with SIM cards, the Punjab Police has busted its fifth case in six months of internet-based CCTV cameras outside shops and commercial establishments along key roads being turned into spy devices by operatives linked to Pakistan’s ISI for tracking military and security movement.In latest bust, 22 of 23 identified accused have been arrested, and 11 cameras with equipment, including solar plates, SIM cards, mobile phones, a router and an adapter, have been seized, according to DGP Gaurav Yadav. A senior officer of police’s counter-intelligence wing said “eight FIRs have been registered across various districts, including Kapurthala, Amritsar (Rural and State Special Operations Cell), Bathinda, Pathankot, Barnala and Ludhiana, under Sections 3, 4, 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, along with applicable sections of the BNS”.Punjab Police is now examining the technical trail, including SIM cards and device IDs, to identify the complete network of handlers and local facilitators, the officer said.Police say the latest crackdown follows a pattern seen across states: cross-border espionage using cheap solar-powered, SIM/4G internet cameras placed near military routes, cantonments or railway stations, with live feeds sent to handlers abroad. The first such major case was busted in Ghaziabad in March, when police and a state STF arrested members of a module accused of installing solar-powered, SIM-enabled cameras at the Delhi Cantt and Sonipat railway stations, filming military sites, and sharing photos, videos and GPS data with handlers.The case prompted the MHA to order a nationwide CCTV audit. “These CCTV cameras are off-grid with solar power plus 4G/SIM, so no wiring is used and they are harder to spot. The placement is usually on poles, shop fronts or highway points covering Army/ paramilitary movement. Local installers are often paid a few tens of thousands of rupees by Pakistani handlers across the border,” the senior officer said.In April, Delhi Police Special Cell said 11 men from Punjab and Delhi were arrested, and nine solar-powered CCTVs were recovered from sites linked to troop and logistics movement across Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Pathankot, Patiala and Moga in Punjab; Ambala in Haryana; Kathua in J&K; and Bikaner and Alwar in Rajasthan.Police at the time said the cameras had been streaming for about three months through mobile apps and a Chinese cloud platform, and linked the module to Pakistan-based handlers and Babbar Khalsa International.Story continues below this adIn April, counter intelligence and Kapurthala Police, along with a central agency, said they had cracked two modules using China-made solar/SIM cameras to livestream military sites. Three persons were arrested, and cameras, a solar plate with 4G connectivity, phones linked to foreign handlers, and a Wi-Fi set were recovered. Police alleged a handler known as “Fauji” paid the accused about Rs 35,000 for one installation.In May, another person was arrested for installing a CCTV at a shop in Pathankot-Jammu stretch of NH-44, allegedly to watch Army and paramilitary convoys. Police said he got about Rs 40,000 and directions from a Dubai-based contact, with the feed going to Pakistan-based handlers. FIR named three others. Between June and July, a solar-powered SIM camera on an electricity pole was found on the Bathinda-Malout/ Bathinda-Sriganganagar road, near the city’s military station, after a road-accident inquiry at Thermal police station. Police said it had run for nearly three months and sent footage to contacts in Pakistan and Canada.Last month, another such operation was busted on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur Road, about 6 km from Baddowal Cantonment, after which police arrested a man who had rented a shoe shop nearby as an alleged front. Police said Chinese CCTVs were installed outside the shop facing the road, and that the accused, Rachhpal Singh from Gurdaspur, shared user IDs and passwords with Pakistan-based handlers. He allegedly received Rs 3 lakh in instalments, police said.