New Delhi: Investigating agencies probing the recent cases of espionage and spying by several social media influencers, have stumbled upon a name, Nasir. The man who was reportedly a sub-inspector in Pakistan Police, started making YouTube videos and worked as a key handler for the country’s spy agency, the ISI. Nasir was reportedly recruited by the ISI, while still in service and took voluntary retirement after a few years. He then switched to making YouTube videos, reported the Times of India.
Nasir and accomplice tasked with cultivating Indian influencers
The investigators found that Nasir and one of his female accomplices, Naushaba Shehzad aka Madam N., were asked by the ISI to cultivate Indian influencers. Both of them acted as a bridge between the ISI and the Indian influencers.
Talking about the modus operandi followed by the duo, one of the investigators said, after initial onboarding, Nasir would connect the Indian influencers with Danish, an official at the Pakistan High Commission Danish had been earlier expelled from India. According to the investigators, those Indian Youtubers who were to visit Pakistan, were talked into conducting espionage acts and also invited as guests to the Pakistan High Commission.
The Indian agencies arrested several individuals involved in espionage and passing on information to Pakistani handlers. One of them was YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra. Following her arrest and revelations, Danish, the employee at the Pakistan High Commission was expelled from India.
The name of Nasir also popped up when investigators were questioning another YouTuber, Jasbir Singh. Singh has been accused of passing on information regarding movement of Indian forces to the ISI.
Nasir has a huge following on social media platform, YouTube. In the videos he posts on his channel, he advocates for visas to Indians yearning to visit Pakistan. But this is just a ploy to mislead the people and avoid suspicion. He uses it to just camouflage his spying activities and recruitment of spies for Pakistan. The man reportedly lives in Faisalabad and is fond of driving cars and has a good collection of SUVs.
One of his associates is Naushaba Shehzad, who runs a travel agency in Pakistan, said investigators. His job is to facilitate visas for those who “cooperate”. In lieu of the visa, the Indian YouTubers were asked to shoot and upload pro-Pakistan videos and help create a favourable narrative.
