Reports have emerged that Australia has been dealing with aggressive spying operations by India in the country, and there are growing calls for suspected spies to be investigated, indicted and tried as common criminals.
There have been repeated reports by the Australian Broadcasting Service that Indian intelligence officers have been trying to gain access to sensitive defence technology to airport security protocols. Targets of the spying operation have included former and serving politicians in addition to members of the federal and state police services.
There have been reports that at least four intelligence officers were expelled from Australia despite posing as diplomats in India’s high commission.
This is reported to be a large number of expulsions compared with other countries that run large scale intelligence operations in Australia such as Russia and China.
It is widely regarded to be a policy enacted by Indian Prime Minster Modi. Upon taking power years ago, he has built up India’s intelligence operations, arguing that he needs to protect India from “terrorists”.
However it appears that the Indian Intelligence Services have been involved in multiple assassination plots worldwide, notably targeted towards Indian Diaspora.
The ABC reports that Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead outside a Sikh temple in Vancouver. This hit came after the Indian foreign secretary sent a secret cable to Indian consulates describing Nijjar as an extremist and instructed them to assist India’s intelligence service if necessary.
The Indian government denied the veracity of the memo.
Aside from the danger posed to the Australian public by assassination attempts, there is speculation that the spying has been behind the large recent increase in immigration from India to Australia. This is causing political issues in Australia, and will no doubt become more of an issue over time.