The National Investigation Agency has put Pakistani Diplomat Amir Zubair Siddiqui on its ‘wanted’ list and released his photograph seeking information. Siddiqui was posted as a visa counsellor in the Pakistan High Commission office in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
https://twitter.com/ANI/status/983213171681918977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
According to reports, Siddiqui has been included in the list along with two other Pakistani officers for conspiring to launch 26/11 type attacks on the United States consulates, Israeli consulates and the Army and Naval commands in South India in 2014. One of the officers went by the alias ‘Vineeth’ and the other was codenamed ‘Boss’ and ‘Shah’. The agency stated that a fourth Pakistani officer in the Colombo office was also involved in the conspiracy.
This development has come at a time when the probe agency is planning to move to Interpol seeking Red Corner Notices (RCN) against the said Pakistani diplomats. It is believed that the said officials have been repatriated to Islamabad from their Colombo office. These officers were posted in the Colombo office between 2009 to 2016.
According to reports, the NIA had already charge sheeted Siddiqui in February. The agency stated that Siddiqui had hired several Sri Lankan nationals for his plan. Among them, NIA had arrested Muhammad Shakir Hussain, Arun Selvaraj, Shivabalan and Thameem Ansari. They were reportedly given the tasks to collect photographs details of major defence installations and Nuclear facilities. They were also directed to steal the laptops of top Indian defence officials.
The US consulate in Chennai, the Israeli consulate in Bengaluru and the Eastern Naval Commands Headquarters at Visakhapatnam were their main targets.
This is the first time India has put a Pakistani diplomat’s name on a wanted list.