Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is reportedly seeking to enhance its honey-trapping operations by establishing networks in smaller towns and villages across India. Intelligence officials have highlighted this strategy as a new challenge for Indian security agencies. Additionally, the ISI is leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create deceptive images and videos aimed at ensnaring targets and extracting sensitive information.
The official said the ISI had earlier recruited people in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, who reported to handlers based in Faridkot. For years, the honey-trap network was reportedly operated from Faridkot in Pakistan, with handlers directing recruits in India. Instead, it is looking towards smaller towns and villages, where recruitment can be carried out with less attention and people can be lured with financial incentives. The agency is now looking to expand its network to towns in southern India as well.
The ISI had earmarked around Rs 3,000 crore between 2015 and 2019 for running the module, highlighting the scale of the operation, according to the official.
An Intelligence Bureau official said the development would make it harder for Indian agencies to detect and trace such operations. An official said the ISI is unlikely to focus primarily on major cities while setting up the new network. The focus, however, would remain on smaller locations where recruits can be found more easily and offered substantial amounts of money, the official said. Another official said recent investigations found that the ISI had used pornography and nudity as part of its honey-trapping methods to lure people and obtain sensitive information. The agency had also used attractive women to establish contact with targets and gather information, particularly about the Indian armed forces, the official said.
