The National Investigation Agency (NIA) intends to visit Sri Lanka to meet officers of counter-terror agencies there to probe a suspected anti-India spying syndicate being run by the Pakistan High Commission by using Sri Lankans who have links in India.

The arrest of Sri Lankan national Arun Selvarajam yesterday in Chennai on charges of spying in India has prompted NIA to probe the spying network being controlled from the Pakistan mission in Colombo.

Selvaranjam was posing as a businessman in Chennai when he was arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan and photographing high-security zones, which has intelligence officials concerned about possible plans for a 26/11-type attack in the South.

Indian media reported that the NIA is to write to the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry seeking support to tackle the spying network with Sri Lanka’s support.

The suspect was being tracked for the past few months and had been in touch with officials of the Pakistan High Commission in Sri Lanka. Authorities alleged that he conducted reconnaissance of vital installations like Kalpakkam nuclear plant near Chennai and naval facilities in Vizag and Kochi.

"Pictures of the Officers Training Academy and the NSG hub in Chennai have been seized from him along with maps showing routes to enter and exit some of these vital installations," an NIA officer said. Along with that computer hard discs, pen drives, mobile phones, an iPad, and Indian and Sri Lankan passports were also seized from him. (with inputs from India Today)