Pakistan intelligence agencies have successfully thwarted India’s bid to spoil the historic Australian tour to Pakistan as they tracked down ‘threatening messages’ generated from the Indian state of Gujarat, reported Samaa News.
The messages were sent to left-arm spinner Ashton Agar’s wife on Instagram stating that “snipers will blow his head”.
The message read: “Hey Madeleine, I hope you are well. This is a warning for your husband Ashton Agar if he comes for a tour against Pakistan. He won’t come alive. Long live TTP (Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan) and Taliban.”
“Your children will miss their father if he comes to Pakistan, our snipers will blow his head inshallah.”
During the investigation, it was revealed that the person sending the messages was using VPN (virtual private network) to avoid getting traced. However, the agencies used their advanced system to track down the original source.
As per Samaa News, the messages were sent from account ‘jyot.isharma391’, and it was being used by Mridul Tiwari, who lives in the Indian state of Gujarat.
Interestingly, Tiwari is an environmental officer in the IMC limited.
Team Australia arrived in Pakistan on Sunday for their first tour since 1998. They are scheduled to play three Tests, the same number of ODIs and a T20I.
Last year in September, New Zealand abandoned their tour of Pakistan just hours before the first ODI at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium citing security concerns. Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry later revealed that a threatening e-mail was sent to New Zealand from India.
“I would just like to remind you that both Pakistan and New Zealand’s security agencies had probed and arrived at the conclusion that the threats issued on August 19, 21 and 24 were all fake,” he noted.
Meanwhile, Cricket Asutralia (CA) has confirmed in a statement that a social media post was sent. The governing body says the threat is “not a risk”.