IAF airman, honey-trapped by ISI over Facebook, arrested in Delhi

The arrest came after an investigation revealed that he was honey-trapped on Facebook and found to be passing on crucial and secret messages to Pakistan's espionage agency, Inter Services Intelligence.

In a joint operation of Delhi Police crime branch and military intelligence, an Indian Air Force airman was arrested on espionage charges. The airman, identified as Devendra Sharma, was posted at the records office in the national capital and was nabbed while allegedly attempting to gather sensitive information about the armed forces.

The arrest came after an investigation revealed that he was honey-trapped on Facebook and found to be passing on crucial and secret messages to Pakistan's espionage agency, Inter Services Intelligence. Sharma, a native of Kanpur, was arrested at Delhi's Dhaula Kuan area. 

"There is a suspicion of the hand of Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI in the whole operation," Delhi Police said.

Sources said that an unidentified woman befriended Sharma through Facebook. He was honey-trapped by way of phone sex. Once he was trapped, the woman sought details about radar positions as well as names and addresses of senior officers. The number used by the woman was traced to an Indian service provider. A parallel operation has been launched to trace the woman.

Sharma was detained on May 6 and since then the probe agencies have been piecing together the espionage puzzle and eventually arrested him. In the probe, it was also found that there were some suspicious transactions made in his wife's bank account.

An IAF official clarified that the person was previously dismissed from the service.