ISI Link, Ransom Calls… How India Foiled A Sinister ISI Plot And Rescued Its Citizens In Iran

The Punjab-based trio had landed in Iran on May 1. Promised a clandestine route to Australia via Dubai and Tehran by a shady agent back home, they disappeared soon after arriving in southern region of the Iranian capital.

Indians missing in Iran rescued

New Delhi: Three Indian citizens vanished mysteriously in Tehran. Darkness closed in as hope seemed lost. A ruthless Pakistani gang with potential links to ISI snatched them away, casting a shadow of fear. But relentless Indian diplomats refused to back down. Against all odds, a daring rescue mission ignited. Now, the captives are free, and a chilling game of espionage comes to light.

The Punjab-based trio – Amritpal Singh from Hoshiarpur, Jaspal Singh from SBS Nagar and Hushnapreet Singh from Sangrur – had landed in Iran on May 1. Promised a clandestine route to Australia via Dubai and Tehran by a shady agent back home, they disappeared soon after arriving in southern region of the Iranian capital. What followed was a haunting silence broken only by a series of ransom calls from Pakistan to their families in Punjab.

That was the first major red flag. Alarm bells rang across India’s security establishment. Terrified and confused, the families turned to the government. As more details emerged, suspicions mounted that this was no ordinary abduction. There were whispers that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was preparing to portray the three as Indian spies – an all-too-familiar tactic seen in espionage standoffs in the past.

New Delhi swung into action from behind the scenes. What unfolded next was a high-stakes diplomatic chase. The Indian Embassy in Tehran turned up the heat and pushed the Iranian authorities to act swiftly. “We raised the issue with utmost urgency,” said an embassy official.

Tehran, too, recognised the gravity of the situation and cooperated in tracing the missing Indians, believed to be held in captivity by a Pakistan-linked network.

The breakthrough came late Tuesday night, when the Indian Embassy in Tehran confirmed the rescue. While exact details of the operation remain under wraps, sources confirm that it involved backchannel intelligence, surveillance and some quiet but aggressive diplomacy.

The shadowy agent who sent the three men off to Iran is now missing, and Indian authorities are probing whether he was working with Pakistani handlers.

What adds to the mystery is that this is not the first time Indians have disappeared in Iran under suspicious circumstances. This marks the second such case in less than a year, fueling fears of an emerging pattern and perhaps a covert network targeting Indians in transit.

In the aftermath of the rescue, the Indian government has warned citizens that they should exercise extreme caution when dealing with unknown travel agents and avoid dubious migration routes. For the families of Hushnapreet, Jaspal and Amritpal, the ordeal is finally over but the scars will linger.

This high-voltage episode not only exposed the murky underbelly of international trafficking but also revealed a chilling possibility of how close innocent Indians came to being pawns in a dangerous geopolitical game played by the ISI.

India may have won this round. But the game is far from over.