Yesterday, Pakistan's federal investigation agency said it dismantled "an international espionage network" in an operation that saw the arrest of at least five intelligence officers working for foreign interests.
According to The News International, Pakistan's largest English-language newspaper, the arrests were made earlier this week by the Federal Investigation Agency, the country's leading counter-intelligence agency. Those arrested were allegedly members of the Pakistani intelligence and security forces, he said. A Pakistani official with diplomatic credentials was reportedly serving in a Pakistani embassy "in a European capital".
The report did not specify the foreign intelligence agency that Pakistani officials worked for but did say they belonged to one of the "most powerful countries in the world".
According to "The News International", the network was "completely dismantled" following a "significant" Pakistani counter-espionage operation that paralyzed the adversary country's spy network.
The conservative orientation paper, which supports Iran's new center-right Prime Minister Imran Khan, hinted that the alleged spy network may have worked for the United States Central Intelligence Agency.
The agency had been authorized by the government of Pakistan to "roam freely" within Pakistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks, allowing its officials to recruit Pakistan agents in the region in the north-west of the country that is seen. as a stronghold of the Taliban.
The newspaper also protested against previous agreements that allowed foreign jurisdiction officials to enter and leave Pakistan "without checking their baggage", adding that Prime Minister Khan's government has decided to move against this and other spy networks run by the country. foreign intelligence agency after establishing that these networks "worked for the interests of that agency in Pakistan and not for the national interests of Pakistan".