After Ulfa and the militants in Kashmir, now naxalites are using Thuraya satellite phones.
NEW DELHI: After Ulfa and the militants in Kashmir, now naxalites are using Thuraya satellite phones.
The matter came to light after the research and analysis wing (Raw), India’s external intelligence agency, intercepted communication between naxals in different parts of the country.
Terrorists in Kashmir and the Northeast using Thuraya phones for strategic communication is a known fact, but naxals taking to the technology is new.
Raw also found that the location of these satellite phones changes constantly within a particular area of operation as the facility is mostly used by top naxal commanders who keep changing their hideouts for fear of being caught.
Thuraya is a UAE-based firm that provides satellite telephony in most parts of the world. Indian intelligence agencies have traditionally found it very tough to intercept satellite phones, making them the choice of militants in Kashmir. In recent times, however, the agencies, including Raw, have acquired the technology to track them.
Whatever success the agencies have had against Thuraya has been after 2007, when Raw acquired the system to intercept the phones and immediately found out that over 100 such phones were active in India, mostly in Kashmir and other border areas. Then, the second major concentration of satellite phones was in the border areas of the Northeast, where they were being extensively used by Ulfa.
Refusing to divulge the exact number of satellite phones in the possession of naxals, a senior government official privy to the interceptions said, “The presence of satellite phones shows that naxals are increasing becoming technologically equipped.”
Naxalites active in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Orissa, Maharashtra and Karnataka getting access to satellite telephony has set alarm bells ringing among intelligence agencies.
The relief is the phones being used in India are old models and the agencies are working overtime to trace their origins.
Raw has also found that satellite phones are being increasingly used around the line of control in Kashmir and also in northeastern states.
k_yogesh@dnaindia.net
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}