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 so-called foreign "nest of spies" disrupted by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) in 2020 was also accused of closely monitoring Indians living here and developing close relationships with current and former politicians.
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, saying to do so would be an "unnecessary distraction".
"The spies developed targeted relationships with current and former politicians, a foreign embassy and a state police service," Mr Burgess said 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.
"They asked a public servant to provide information on security protocols at a major airport."
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".
National security and government figures have now confirmed to the ABC that India's foreign intelligence service was responsible for the "nest of spies", and "a number" of Indian officials were later removed from Australia by the Morrison government.
The Washington Post this week also reported that two members of the Indian intelligence agency known as the "Research and Analysis Wing" (RAW) were expelled from Australia in 2020 following an ASIO counter-intelligence operation.
Details of New Delhi's clandestine operations in Australia have emerged as western allies grow increasingly alarmed over the actions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, which is accused of an assassination in Canada last September.
Do you know more? Four Corners is investigating Indian foreign interference in Australia and would like to hear from you. Contact us here.
In an interview with the ABC while visiting the United States in November, Mr Burgess declined to say whether the Indian government's foreign operations had caused any concern for ASIO back in Australia.
"I don't comment on any actions of any government, and you shouldn't read anything into that, I can assure you though if we saw acts of foreign interference or plotting for that, we will deal with it," Mr Burgess told the ABC.
Further pressed on whether he had ever been involved in the expulsion of Indian personnel from Australia, the ASIO director-general again declined to comment.
"We don't comment on specific operational matters but of course, from time-to-time ASIO will discover undeclared intelligence officers who are operating in our country and through our own actions or asking government to help, people can and do leave this country as a result of being found out."
Indian High Commissioner to Australia Gopal Baglay at an event inside ASIO headquarters in March 2024. (ABC News)
India is a member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue alongside the United States, Japan and Australia, and is considered a crucial defence partner in the Indo-Pacific where concerns over China's military build-up are growing.
In 2022, when delivering his next Annual Threat Assessment, Mr Burgess described how nations that were considered friendly were still trying to conduct espionage against Australia.
"Multiple countries are seeking to conduct espionage against us — and not just those countries that might be considered our traditional adversaries," he then said.
"In some instances, espionage is conducted by countries we consider friends — friends with sharp elbows and voracious intelligence requirements."
Government sources have told the ABC that friendly nations believed to be particularly active with espionage operations in Australia include Singapore, South Korea, Israel and India.
During the 2024 Annual Threat Assessment, also delivered inside ASIO headquarters, senior diplomats and ambassadors from Singapore, South Korea, Israel and India were all invited guests to hear Mr Burgess speak.
The ABC has approached the Indian High Commission and ASIO for comment, but both declined to respond to specific questions about the "nest of spies" operation.
Source: ABC News
Australian MPs urged to use burner phones in India as spying concerns grow on Narendra Modi’s Government
DFAT has advised prominent Australians, including MPs, to take burner phones with them when they travel to India.
It is the same advice given to MPs and VIPs travelling to China and Ukraine over fears that in those locations their phones could be hacked by the Chinese and Russians.
The revelation shows underlying signs of distrust between Australia and the Hindu nationalist government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after it was only recently revealed that the nest of spies that intelligence agency ASIO disrupted and kicked out of Australia in 2020 was Indian.
While it is a rule of thumb that travelling VIPs are recommended to leave their regular phones at home unless they are travelling to a Five Eyes intelligence-sharing country, The Nightly understands officials have escalated their advice for India.
One prominent figure who regularly travels to India said the advice for his most recent travel this year was to take a burner phone in case his regular one was compromised. This was not the advice they received around three years ago, he said.
DFAT does not comment on the security advice it gives to officials.
It follows a slight souring of relations between Australia’s Five-Eyes and Quad allies following the killing of a prominent Canadian Sikh and US allegations that India’s security services had authorised assassinations to be carried out on US soil, which authorities ultimately foiled.
Canada has alleged Indian involvement in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar who was shot dead in 2023.
Last week authorities arrested three men in connection with the killing.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is a major backer of Mr Modi. During the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Australia, Mr Albanese told an adoring crowd of Australian Indians that Mr Modi was “the boss”.
The endorsement was subsequently used by Mr Modi’s Hindu Nationalist party in political ads ahead of India’s elections.
Ian Hall, Professor of International Relations at Griffith University and an expert on India, said he hoped the change in the security advice would lead to a more realistic foreign policy on India.
“This revised advice reflects unhappiness about India’s recent actions and New Delhi’s responses to Canadian and US requests for explanations and for accountability,” he said.
“I hope it also moves us away from some of the over-exuberant language we’ve seen in recent years to a more calibrated, interests-driven India policy.”
Herve Lemahieu from the Sydney-based think tank Lowy Institute said that behind the scenes, Australia was approaching the India relationship with greater caution.
“While the relationship is still considered worthwhile strategically, the gloss is coming off all the talk of shared values between the two countries,” he said.
“There is greater recognition of some of the inherent risks in dealing with an emerging power.”
Publicly, the Australian government has all but said nothing about the revelations that it was an Indian nest of spies that ASIO caught trying to steal classified defence and security secrets, as well as intelligence on Australia’s trading relationships.
Australia and India have been negotiating the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement since 2011 and in 2022 signed a first-stage Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement.
Australia, the US and other Western allies are keen to woo India as an economic and security partner to try and balance against the growing threat of China.
This has meant sidestepping the growing concerns about Mr Modi and his BJP Hindu nationalist party who are accused of trying to silence and harass political, media and activist critics via arrests and tax raids.
When the BBC planned on screening a documentary that examined claims Mr Modi was complicit in sectarian violence during his time as the chief minister of Gujarat, it was blocked and weeks later the British broadcaster’s offices in India were raided.
Mr Modi is also accused of stoking Hindu-Muslim tensions, referring to the Muslim minority population as “infiltrators” during a campaign rally last month.
Last month’s Human Rights report by the US State Department said some of the human rights abuses taking place in India included arbitrary or unlawful killings, extrajudicial killings; enforced disappearances; torture by the government; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; political prisoners or detainees.
High-profile Aussies have been urged to take burner phones to India in a move underpinned by growing distrust between Australia and the Hindu nation.
thenightly.com.au