NIA arrests two for leaking sensitive info on Naval Base in Karwar to Pak operative

The two contract workers were arrested for leaking sensitive info about INS Kadamba to a Pakistani operative, allegedly after being honey-trapped on Facebook.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested two civilian contract workers for allegedly leaking sensitive information about the INS Kadamba Naval Base in Karwar to a Pakistani intelligence operative, according to people aware of the matter.

The INS Kadamba Naval Base in Karwar. (Indian Navy)

The two, identified as Akshay Naik from Ankola and Vethan Thandel from Karwar, have been accused of passing classified details, including photographs of restricted areas and naval movements, to a woman posing as a marine officer, the people said.

According to NIA officers, the arrests were made on Tuesday with the assistance of police in Ankola and Karwar. A six-member NIA team from Hyderabad, led by two deputy superintendents of police (DSPs), carried out the operation after getting “critical” intelligence, the officers added, asking not to be named.

The superintendent of police (SP) at Karwar, Narayan M, confirmed that NIA officers interrogated five naval base staff at the Karwar City police station on Tuesday morning. “After a thorough inquiry, three were released, while two were taken into custody as they confessed to sharing classified information about the base with a woman,” Narayan said.

The two were then taken for medical examinations at the district hospital and produced before the district court, which remanded them to NIA custody. “The two allegedly shared photographs of highly secured prohibited zones,” the SP added.

The two were allegedly “honey-trapped” by a Pakistani woman who befriended them on Facebook in 2023. Posing as a marine officer, she built trust with them over time and allegedly paid them ₹5,000 per month for eight months in exchange for sensitive details. “The woman developed a friendship with Akshay Naik and Vethan Thandel through social media and trapped them into her network,” Narayan said.

One of the NIA officers cited above said that the woman sought information about the naval base, including construction projects and the movement of ships. The accused allegedly sent her images and updates about the arrivals and departures of warships.

The INS Kadamba Naval Base, also known as Project Seabird, is a critical strategic asset for the Indian Navy. It is the third-largest naval base in the country, housing key assets including aircraft carriers INS Vikramaditya and INS Vikrant. NIA officers suspect that the espionage operation may have been part of a larger intelligence-gathering effort by Pakistan

“The involvement of the two accused surfaced after the arrest of a man named Deepak in Visakhapatnam last year. During his interrogation, he disclosed details about their activities. Based on this, Naik and Thandel were summoned to Hyderabad for questioning, where their mobile phones and other electronic devices were seized,” a senior NIA officer based in Bengaluru said on condition of anonymity. While they were released at the time, the agency continued to monitor their movements, he added.

Investigators suspect that financial transactions linked to the espionage activities were routed through the bank accounts of the two accused. “The agent obtained classified photographs of the base, ship movements, and construction activities in exchange for money,” the NIA officer said.

Naik and Thandel were employed on a contractual basis through Iron and Mercury, a private company operating in the Chandya region of Karwar. HT reached out to the company but couldn’t get a response till the time of going to print.

Authorities are now probing if more people were involved in the espionage network. Investigators are also coordinating with officers at the naval base to assess the full extent of the security breach.