Zee News
 
Washington, Aug 3: India’s Intelligence Bureau has been identified as being among the top five such outfits in the world, says the private American intelligence news gathering entity Strategic Forecasting (STRATFOR).

According to STRATFOR, the Intelligence Bureau (IB), India's main domestic security and counter-terrorism force, exhibits efficiency and a certain level of sophistication, but has a reputation for brutality.

The IB's strength lies in its ability to conduct surveillance. It is among the world's five best intelligence services when it comes to conducting physical surveillance, bugging hotel rooms and carrying out “black bag jobs” (covert or clandestine surreptitious entries into structures to obtain information. They include lock picking, safe cracking, key impressions, finger printing, photography, electronic surveillance (audio (bugging) or visual (micro cams)), mail manipulation (flaps and seals), forgery and a host of other related skills.)

According to STRATFOR, however, efforts should be made to beef up intelligence capabilities to counter Kashmiri militants who have begun to target other parts of India.

There is a fear in Indian intelligence circles that these attackers could set their sights on hi-tech firms operating within the country. Many of these companies have extensive operations in India’s IT capital, Bangalore.

Since the attacks in the United Kingdom, Indian authorities have asked information technology companies in Bangalore and Hyderabad, another high-tech hub, to step up security. Karnataka has even set up a new counter-terrorism unit for Bangalore on the lines of what exists in Mumbai.

The Ahmed brothers' alleged connection to the failed bombings in Britain and the murder of Professor Emeritus M C Puri at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore in late December 2005 is a sign that the threat is serious.