The counterintelligence service of the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, arrested two natives of Raxaul, Bihar state, on charges of assisting Pakistani intelligence operatives in activating WhatsApp accounts. According to the investigation, they passed along one-time passwords tied to Indian SIM cards, which were then used for espionage activity.
The arrests came as the result of the second phase of Operation Firewall-2026, launched on October 25 as part of an ongoing investigation into an alleged spy network posing a threat to India’s national security.
The accused, Raja Kumar and Aditya Kumar, known under the alias Aditya Kumar Pandey, appeared Wednesday before a court in Vijayawada, which ordered them held in custody until November 10.
Earlier, as part of the same investigation, the AP counterintelligence group arrested Annam Sai Varu Prasad and Naval employee Pradip Mukherjee. Both remain in custody at the Vijayawada district jail.
According to the police report, Raja Kumar, who works as a sales agent, allegedly passed one-time passwords through intermediaries in Nepal to activate WhatsApp accounts on Indian mobile numbers. In addition, according to the investigation, he opened an account at Airtel Payments Bank in another person’s name in order to receive payments for the one-time passwords he passed along.