Four Indian intelligence officers asked to leave Australia in 2020: Report

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, June 18, 2024: At least four ’Indian intelligence officers’ were asked to leave Australia in 2020, after they allegedly attempted to access "sensitive defence technology and airport security protocols", according to a recent investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). The four officers quietly left Australia and the issue didn’t snowball bilaterally, according to the Australian national broadcaster.

The expulsion of the officers has placed India on par with nations like "Russia and China, which are notorious for violating protocols overseas", the ABC commented.

"They were targeting former and current politicians as well as the state police service. Crucially, they were also accused of monitoring the Australian Indian community," the ABC report noted.

The report comes years after Mike Burgess, the chief of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) in 2021, disclosed that the organisation had successfully disrupted a "nest of spies" in Australia.

"Last year, for example, one of ASIO’s investigations focused on a nest of spies, from a particular foreign intelligence service, that was operating in Australia. We confronted the foreign spies, and quietly and professionally removed them from Australia," said ASIO chief Mike Burgess in 2021.

"We confronted the foreign spies, and quietly and professionally removed them," Burgess had said.

Earlier in April 2024, The Washington Post reported that two officers from the Research and Analysis Wing, India’s foreign intelligence service, were expelled from Australia in 2020.

Following that, the ABC reported that "a number" of Indian officials were being removed from Australia by the Scott Morrison government.

Morrison was succeeded by Anthony Albanese as the Australian Prime Minister in May 2022.

These reports also pointed to the alleged activities of Indian intelligence agencies in monitoring and intimidating members of the Indian diaspora.

The Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, then refused to confirm the 2020 incident, but he stressed "the importance of ensuring the resilience of our [Australian] democracy, including in the face of any suggestion of foreign interference".

"We have laws to deal with that," said Wong in April.

Courtesy: NDTV