Mike Burgess, Director-General, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. Photo: X/@ASIOGovAu

Australia expelled two Indian spies in 2020 for allegedly trying to “steal secrets” about sensitive defence projects and airport security, the Australian media reported on April 30.

While The Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald said two Indian spies were booted out, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) did not mention any number.

Also read | Australia has laws to deal with foreign interference: Penny Wong

There was no immediate comment from Indian officials on the Australian media reports.

“Indian spies were kicked out of Australia after being caught trying to steal secrets about sensitive defence projects and airport security, as well as classified information on Australia’s trade relationships,” the ABC report said.

The so-called foreign “nest of spies” disrupted by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) in 2020 was also accused of closely monitoring Indians living in Australia and developing close relationships with current and former politicians, it said.

The reports came a day after The Washington Post named an Indian RAW official for allegedly plotting to assassinate Sikh extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil last year.

India on April 30 said The Washington Post report made “unwarranted and unsubstantiated” imputations on a serious matter.

The Washington Post report also said that two RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) officers were expelled from Australia in 2020.

The ABC said ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess first alluded to the spy ring in his annual threat assessment delivered in 2021, but he did not disclose which country was behind the activity.

“The spies developed targeted relationships with current and former politicians, a foreign embassy and a state police service,” the report quoted Mr. Burgess as saying during his March 2021 speech inside ASIO’s Canberra headquarters.

“They monitored their country’s diaspora community. They tried to obtain classified information about Australia’s trade relationships,” he said.

Mr. Burgess also detailed how the “nest of spies” had successfully cultivated and recruited an Australian government security clearance holder who had access to “sensitive details of defence technology”, the ABC report said.

Sydney:

The head of Australia’s main intelligence agency on Wednesday revealed the existence of an “A-Team” of foreign spies that for several years has recruited Australian academics, politicians and businesspeople, gaining access to sensitive political, economic and defence information.

In an extremely rare public revelation of counterespionage operations, Mike Burgess, Australia’s director-general of security, revealed the existence of the unit, belonging to an unnamed country, in a bid to disrupt ongoing operations.

“Right now there is a particular team in a particular foreign intelligence service with a particular focus on Australia — we are its priority target,” Burgess said in a speech in Canberra.

“We call them ‘the A-team’ — the Australia team.”

“Many of the people here tonight are almost certainly high-value targets. The team is aggressive and experienced; its tradecraft is good — but not good enough,” he said.

Burgess, who runs the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), said the unit had targeted Australians with access to “privileged information” on social networking sites using “false, anglicised personas” and promising cash rewards.

“The spies pose as consultants, head-hunters, local government officials, academics and think tank researchers, claiming to be from fictional companies such as Data 31,” he said.

“If a target takes the bait, the spies try to move the conversation onto an encrypted messaging app. A further step might involve the offer of an overseas trip to meet in person.”

He outlined examples of when the approach had been successful, gleaning information from an academic and an unnamed former politician who “sold out their country, party and former colleagues to advance the interests of the foreign regime”.

“At one point, the former politician even proposed bringing a prime minister’s family member into the spies’ orbit,” he said.

– Spy vs Spy –

Explaining why he had declassified information about the unit, its operations, and the counterespionage measures taken against it, Burgess said he wanted to warn Australians of the risks.

“On just one professional networking site, there are 14,000 Australians publicly boasting about having a security clearance or working in the intelligence community. Some even out themselves as intelligence officers,” he said. 

Australia is a member of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing group that includes the United States, Britain, Canada and New Zealand — making it a juicy target for operatives from countries such as China and Russia.

But Burgess said he also wanted to let the other country know that its spies had been rumbled and that the unit’s team leader had been confronted by Australia’s own spies.

“We want the A-team to know its cover is blown. We want the A-team’s bosses to know its cover is blown,” he said.

“If the team leader failed to report our conversation to his spymasters, he will now have to explain why he didn’t, along with how ASIO knows so much about his team’s operations and identities.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)