Visa agent allegedly spying for Pakistan sent to judicial custody

A visa agent arrested here for allegedly spying for Pakistan was today remanded in judicial custody by a local court after the expiry of his 14-day police remand.

Javed Abdul Gafoor Mozawala, a resident of Mazgaon in south Mumbai, was produced before the Esplanade metropolitan magistrate who sent him in judicial custody for 12 days.

He was arrested from Mazgaon on December 8 on espionage charges and booked under the Official Secrets Act.

Meanwhile, Mozawala's lawyer Mubin Solkar said he will soon move a bail application in the sessions court.

According to the policem Mozawala was working at the behest of two officials of the Pakistan high commission in Delhi and had gone inside restricted defence establishments and taken photographs using his mobile phone camera.

Police have claimed Mozawala had surveyed western naval command in Mumbai, a navy facility in Lonavla (in Pune district, Bandra Worli Sea Link bridge here and Koyna dam in Satara district in Western Maharashtra.

Mozawala had also reportedly undergone a civil aviation course related to ground handling operations. Two certificates of the course, conducted by a Mumbai institute, were recovered from his residence, police said.

"The basic idea of obtaining these certificates was to get a job of ground handling which allows access to restricted areas at airports," a police officer said.

"Mozawala befriended a navy official during a train journey and later tried to extract vital information from him, but was not successful in his efforts," he added.