Qatar detains 8 former Indian Navy officers over espionage charges

Diplomatic tensions are high between Qatar & India!

The development comes after 8 former Indian NAVY officials were arrested by Qatar for espionage charges.

India seeks release of its former naval officers arrested in Qatar.

• Eight former Indian Navy officers, working in Qatar with a company providing training and other services to the Qatari Emiri Navy, are in custody in that country.
• The Indian Ministry of External Affairs confirmed their detention on Thursday, but there was no information on the charges against these former Navy officials.

MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the Indian Embassy in Qatar has been in touch with Qatari authorities and mission officials have gotten consular access to the detained Indian nationals and ascertained their well-being.

“The detained persons have also spoken to their family members on a few occasions. We have requested another round of consular access and we are following up with Qatari authorities on this,” he said.

As per the Indian media reports, for three months Qatar has detained eight former Indian navy officers.

The former naval officers were ‘mysteriously’ detained in Doha.

“All of them were working for a firm called Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy and were reportedly engaged in conducting naval exercises,” the report said.

“The officers were working with Dahra in Doha for the past five years,” it added.

“These officers were involved in providing training to the Qatari Navy. One of them was planning to come down to India to visit his family when they were taken away on the pretext of a week-long naval exercise. They became incommunicado on Aug 30,” the Indian newspaper reported.

The detained officers have been identified as Commander Purnendu Tiwari (awarded President’s medal), the managing director of the company.

The others are Cdr Navtej Singh Gill, director (naval training); Cdr Birendra Kumar Verma, director of the naval academy; Cdr Sugunakar Pakala, director, FCN; Cdr Sanjeev Gupta, Cdr Amit Nagpal, Capt Saurab Vasisht and Ragesh Gopakumar.