A special NIA court has convicted and sentenced to five years in jail a key accused in a Pakistan-led espionage conspiracy case involving the fraudulent use of SIM cards and the misuse of social media platforms, the agency said.

The accused, identified as Altafhusen Ghanchibhai alias Shakil, had pleaded guilty during the trial in which 37 witnesses had been examined by the prosecution.

After convicting the accused of misusing unique identification features, including SIM cards, one-time passwords (OTPs), as well as social media, the NIA special court in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, pronounced the sentence on Tuesday.

Ghanchibhai has been sentenced to simple imprisonment for five years and six months with a fine of ₹5,000 under Section 18 (punishment for conspiracy, etc.) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), and to simple imprisonment for two years and six months with a fine of ₹5,000 under Section 66C (punishment for identity theft) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

The cross-border conspiracy case involved the use of Indian SIM cards belonging to fishermen arrested by the Pakistan Navy during fishing on the high seas, it said.

The mobile phones and SIM cards of these fishermen were seized by the Pakistan Navy and later activated by the accused in India to facilitate espionage activities, the probe agency said.

The NIA investigation, it said, established that the accused inserted the Indian SIM cards in his mobile handset and generated OTPs, which he shared with Pakistani intelligence operatives, enabling the use of Indian WhatsApp numbers from Pakistan.