Punjab teenager held for spying for Pakistani handlers

A 15-year-old boy has been apprehended in Punjab’s Pathankot district for allegedly sharing sensitive security information with Pakistani intelligence handlers, police said on Tuesday.

Pathankot senior superintendent of police (SSP) Daljinder Singh Dhillon said that the teenager had been radicalised through social media over the past year. Acting on intelligence that a local minor was in contact with Pakistan military officers, the ISI, and frontal terror organisations, police intercepted the boy on Monday.

The SSP described the boy as tech-savvy, noting that Pakistani agents had successfully cloned his mobile phone to extract data. “Through cloning, handlers were able to access information directly from his device. He had conducted videography of sensitive locations; if his phone was hacked to that extent, the information could have potentially been transmitted live,” Dhillon said.

Investigations revealed that the boy’s path to radicalisation began following the death of his father in Jammu and Kashmir a year ago. While police found no evidence of foul play, the teenager remained convinced his father was murdered. “This belief affected his psyche, making him vulnerable to the traps set by Pakistani agencies on social media,” the SSP added.

The teenager is the youngest to be arrested on espionage charges since the crackdown post-Operation Sindoor, the May 2025 military response to the Pahalgam terror attack. Since the operation, security agencies have dismantled multiple modules involving diverse actors, including travel vloggers, university students, and security guards. Most suspects arrested in the crackdown are between 20 and 35 years old.

Pathankot is a vital military hub housing the strategic Air Force Base and Mamun Cantonment, making it the gateway to Jammu and Kashmir. Following the 2016 Jaish-e-Mohammed siege, it remains on high alert. (With inputs by HTC)