Overview
- Ghaziabad police said four additional adults were arrested and five juveniles were detained, bringing the total held to about 15 across Delhi-NCR and Mumbai as a Special Investigation Team takes over.
- At least two solar-powered, SIM-enabled CCTV cameras were recovered from Delhi Cantonment and Sonipat railway station, with investigators saying live feeds were shared with overseas contacts.
- Officers allege the group filmed military sites, railway stations and other sensitive locations and sent photos, videos and precise GPS coordinates via WhatsApp and a location-sharing app.
- Payments were described as task-based and small, routed through UPI but collected in cash, while Indian SIMs and shared OTPs enabled handlers abroad to run WhatsApp accounts linked to local numbers.
- Earlier arrests in Hapur tied the network to Pakistan-based figure Shahzad Bhatti with sustained, time-stamped tasking since 2025, as key suspects Naushad Ali and Sameer alias Shooter remain untraced.