'India has crossed the line': Why its 'nest of spies' was exposed in Australia (2024)

The public exposure of India as the country behind a "nest of spies" expelled from Australia in 2020 sends an important signal to a rising power that has engaged in other "alarming" provocations, one expert says.

Last week it was revealed Australia's spy agency had uncovered secret surveillance of the Sikh community and expelled two Indian operatives from the country in 2020.

SBS News has confirmed with intelligence operatives that the spies were operating for the Indian foreign intelligence service.

India's spying operation was first reported in 2021 by Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) chief Mike Burgess who said in a speech that a "nest of spies" had developed "targeted relationships with current and former politicians, a foreign embassy and a state police service" throughout 2020.

At the time he did not reveal what country they were from. The Washington Post revealed last week that it was India.

The identification of the spies comes after concerns about India's ostensible targeting

of the Sikh community in countries around the world.

Sikhs originate from the Punjab region of India and follow the religion of Sikhism. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Indian government suppressed a movement for a separate Sikh state, called Khalistan.

"We’re taking that very, very seriously," White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

"The government of India has been very clear with us that they are taking this seriously — and will investigate. And we expect that accountability from the government based on that."

It comes after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly accused India of killing a Canadian citizen, the Sikh advocate and separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, last year — an accusation that India has denied.

Three men were charged over Nijjar's death on Friday, with authorities saying they were looking into any ties with the Indian government.

"That shocked a lot of Western intelligence officials and foreign affairs observers — that India would do something as brazen as going to a friendly nation like Canada, and a Commonwealth nation as well — and assassinate a dissident on Canadian soil.

The recent media reporting could be a way of publicly deterring India from further escalation against its "friends and partners" amid the greater challenge of China's threatening behaviour in the region, Stoltz said.

It's a signal from these governments to say 'we see what you're doing and we want you to stop'

Dr William Stoltz, ANU National Security College expert associate

Griffith University professor of international relations Ian Hall said

and others from the Punjab region.

Punjabi was the fastest-growing language in Australia between 2016 and 2021, increasing by 80 per cent, according to the Census.

Around 210,000 people in Australia identified their religion as Sikhism in 2021, a number that has almost tripled since 2011.

"This is a transnational movement and they've been doing things the Indians consider to be provocative, like holding these so-called 'referendums' amongst the Sikh community to gauge the amount of support for a separate Sikh state in India," he said.

Hall understands why the Indian government may not want to see another Sikh insurgency, which brought a lot of suffering to people in India, including the bombing of an Air India plane that killed more than 300 people in 1985.

But he said sending spies to Australia and reportedly ordering the assassination of key figures in other countries was not acceptable.

Reports the Indian government had been spying on Sikhs in Australia did not come as a surprise to Sovereign Sikh Society president Samar Kohli.

"This has been happening internationally for a very long time," he told SBS News.

"Even in Sydney, we kind of felt that this is happening and we did inform authorities ... I guess the authorities did take it seriously."

Last year ASIO spoke with Kohli just before a referendum on Khalistan was due to be held in Sydney on 4 June. At a voting event held in Melbourne months earlier,

clashed.

"They just wanted to know how we feel, do we feel threatened? Or what's the vibe within the community?" Kohli said.

The agency also met with him after the alleged assassination in Canada.

Kohli believes the security agencies have done a "fabulous job" but is critical of Australia's politicians, especially Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's decision to welcome Modi to Australia in May last year.

The prime minister has previously dismissed criticism over his comment, saying: "I welcomed Prime Minister Modi to Australia, as I welcome other guests to Australia as well".

His government has declined to comment on the latest reports about the Indian spies, saying they don't comment on intelligence matters.

Stoltz believes the Sikh community and other diasporas in Australia have "good reason" to be concerned about being targeted, especially as technology makes it easier to surveil and harass diaspora communities.

"The ability to monitor people's social media, to target their devices, to breach their cybersecurity — this allows for agencies to target a wider range of people, and at a pretty low cost," he said.

It's not an unrealistic thing for diaspora communities to be concerned about this behaviour

Dr William Stoltz, ANU National Security College expert associate

It's not just Sikh communities that are being targeted. Surveillance of those in the Chinese, Persian, African and Myanmar communities has also been documented.

"The list goes on — this is sadly a consequence of modern technology, of modern geopolitics, but it's also a consequence of us being a multicultural country where we welcome in diaspora communities," Stoltz said.

"That's why there's a responsibility on the Australian government to put in place strong policies to address foreign interference.

Stoltz says most nations spy on other countries and it's even common for nations to send a "declared" intelligence official to their embassies to work with security services to share information in an open way.

"Where it gets problematic is when countries start posting intelligence officers overseas and not declaring it to that host nation," Stoltz said.

Stoltz said spying could include banal activities, such as trying to extract information by building relationships with businesspeople, local community groups and university students.

A spy could decide to reveal their identity and might offer people money, a foreign trip or other inducements to get them to provide information. But the behaviour could escalate to threats and blackmail.

"Those relationships can be pretty unintrusive," Stoltz said. "But then they can become more targeted."