3 held for espionage in Karwar naval base

KARWAR: Sleuths from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) reportedly took three persons into custody for questioning in connection with an alleged espionage case at the INS Kadamba naval base here on Wednesday.
Though there was no official confirmation about the arrests from either local police or NIA, sources said NIA officials seized the suspects' mobile phones and some incriminating documents.
The suspects have been identified as Vatan Tandel, 26, and Suneel Naik, 26, both from Karwar, and Akshay Naik, 27, from Halavalli in Ankola taluk.
Of the three, Suneel and Vetan were taken into custody from Karwar, while Akshay was arrested from Goa.
All three suspects were employed as daily wage workers in the INS Seabird project site. They have been accused of leaking sensitive photos and information to a hostile country.
NIA reportedly came to know about the trio's involvement while another accused in a separate espionage case was being quizzed in Hyderabad.
According to sources, NIA officials had visited Karwar 10 days ago and collected information about the three suspects, with help from local police.