Gurdaspur attack GPS data handled poorly by cops, agencies say

NEW DELHI: Central agencies' analysis of GPS sets recovered from Gurdaspur attackers has not yielded as much information as they had hoped to retrieve, thanks to inexpert handling of these devices by the Punjab police.

Sources in the intelligence agencies told TOI that though the origins of the June 27 attack, in which 11 people including three terrorists were killed, in Sargodha/Mastgarh, Pakistan have been established beyond doubt, "not much data beyond the onward journey of the attackers could be recovered from the two GPS sets"

Agencies believe that the Punjab police sleuths, in their eagerness to get initial leads on the route taken by the terrorists, may have "inadvertently" caused loss of crucial data on some of the locations fed in the GPS sets. This, said an official, underlines the need for better coordination between the law enforcement agencies investigating terror cases and professional organizations specializing in reading technical evidence.

The agencies believe that only professionals trained in scientific methods of evidence collection should handle devices like GPS sets recovered in terror cases. The state police, said an intelligence officer, would rather leave it to experts to open and analyze such gadgets as they alone are competent to retrieve the maximum information/data that can serve as crucial technical evidence.

Incidentally, Intelligence Bureau and National Technical Research Organization, in their analysis of GPS device submitted to them in the past, have not only been able to pinpoint the journey of terrorists from Pakistan but could also retrace their escape route fed by the handlers. "This serves as a double confirmation of their bases in Pakistan," said an officer.

Meanwhile, the central agencies' reading of the GPS device has also thrown up locations far removed from the route taken by the terrorists. Some of these GPS locations are thousands of kilometres away from either Pakistan or Punjab. Experts feel these far-off locations may have been purposely fed by the Pakistani handlers to derail any subsequent investigations.

For now, the technical data relating to the attackers' starting point in Pakistan is seen as an irrefutable evidence to confront Islamabad with at the India-Pakistan NSA-level talks to be held on August 23.

The GPS devices have already been returned to the Punjab police post-analysis, and will serve as case property.