SOURCE: AFI
In a disturbing escalation of espionage activities, Pakistani intelligence agents, impersonating Indian Navy officers, have been reported making phone calls to officials at the INS Kadamba naval base in Karwar, Karnataka, and the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, to extract sensitive information about India’s aircraft carriers, INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya, as well as other warships, including INS Subhadra.
These incidents, reported in early May 2025 by Public TV English and Organiser, follow closely on the heels of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arresting three individuals in February 2025 for leaking classified details about INS Kadamba and INS Vikramaditya. The Pakistani operatives have also allegedly attempted to honeytrap Indian Navy personnel, prompting the Indian Navy to issue strict directives against sharing sensitive information. This article examines the nature of these espionage attempts, their strategic implications amid India-Pakistan tensions, and India’s response to safeguard its naval assets.
According to security sources cited by Organiser and Public TV English, the espionage attempts occurred in the last week of April 2025, coinciding with heightened India-Pakistan tensions following the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam terrorist attack, which killed 26 civilians and was widely attributed to Pakistan-backed elements. Pakistani agents, posing as Indian Navy officers, contacted personnel at INS Kadamba and Visakhapatnam, seeking classified details about INS Vikrant, INS Vikramaditya and INS Subhadra.
The agents employed sophisticated tactics, including impersonation and honeytrapping. By posing as Indian officers, they attempted to exploit trust within the naval hierarchy, while honeytrap operations targeted personnel through social media platforms like Facebook, offering financial incentives or romantic enticements to extract information. These methods mirror earlier incidents, such as the 2020 Visakhapatnam espionage case, where 13 Indian Navy sailors were arrested for leaking data to Pakistani operatives after being honeytrapped, per The Hindu.
The April 2025 espionage attempts follow a series of security breaches linked to INS Kadamba and Visakhapatnam. In February 2025, the NIA arrested three individuals—Vethan Laxman Tandel and Akshay Ravi Naik from Uttara Kannada, Karnataka, and Abhilash P.A. from Kochi, Kerala—for sharing photographs and sensitive details about INS Kadamba and INS Vikramaditya with Pakistani operatives. These contract workers, employed by a company in Karwar, were allegedly honeytrapped via Facebook, receiving ?5,000 monthly for classified information, per The Economic Times. The NIA’s investigation, building on a 2021 Visakhapatnam case, has charged eight individuals, including two absconding Pakistani operatives, Meer Balaj Khan and Alven, revealing a broader espionage network.
This incident echoes a similar case in August 2024, when the NIA arrested three others—Sunil Naik, Veen Randel, and Akshay Ravi Naik—for sharing Kadamba base details, leading to a mobile phone ban at the facility. The recurrence of such breaches underscores Pakistan’s persistent efforts to target India’s naval assets, particularly its aircraft carriers, which are pivotal for regional dominance.
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