The weaponisation of CCTV cameras by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence has set off an intensive audit of surveillance systems across Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab after investigators uncovered a spy ring using covert cameras to track troop movements.
The mandate is clear: trace unauthorised or unregistered cameras, reposition units aimed at military installations and vet every device along national highways. Cameras installed in areas close to cantonments, railway stations and arterial routes are now under the scanner.
"So far, scanning of the National Highway and other areas has not revealed any irregularities in CCTV cameras installed in the Jammu region," informed Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jammu Joginder Singh.
Surveillance networks came under scrutiny on May 20, when Punjab Police arrested Baljit Singh alias Bittu of Chakk Dhariwal, Pathankot. He had allegedly installed a CCTV camera near a bridge on the Pathankot-Jammu stretch of NH-44 to monitor Army and paramilitary convoys for handlers in Pakistan.
Earlier, investigators had busted a wider network that installed its own solar-powered, SIM-enabled cameras at sensitive sites. One such unit was dismantled at Sonipat Railway Station in March, days after a similar device was seized from Delhi Cantonment Railway Station.
The group, allegedly run by a master handler with direct ISI links, used solar panels to ensure round-the-clock live streaming to operatives across the border.
Law enforcement units have now been ordered to physically verify every CCTV installation in their jurisdiction.
For security planners, the lesson is stark: an unmonitored or compromised camera is a tactical vulnerability that an adversary can exploit.
