The Australian government has vowed to guard against foreign interference after reports that two Indian intelligence officers were forced to leave the country in 2020.
Australia’s domestic intelligence agency, Asio, has previously alleged that a “nest of spies” from an unnamed country had sought to cultivate politicians, monitor diaspora communities and obtain classified trade information.
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that two officers from the Research and Analysis Wing, India’s foreign intelligence service, had been expelled from Australia in 2020.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation subsequently reported that the incident had seen “a number” of Indian officials being removed from Australia by the Morrison government, although Guardian Australia has yet to independently confirm the reports.
The Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, refused to confirm the 2020 incident, which pre-dated the Albanese government. But she signalled that the government was determined to counter espionage and foreign interference.
Wong said she and other ministers had repeatedly stressed “the importance of ensuring that we maintain the resilience of our democracy, including in the face of any suggestion of foreign interference”.
“We have laws to deal with that,” Wong told reporters in Melbourne.
Asked whether members of Indian diaspora communities in Australia should be concerned about the reports, Wong said: “We deeply value the multicultural fabric of the Australian community. It is a strength and we welcome people’s continued engagement in our democracy.”
The Washington Post reported the 2020 incident was one of “a series of clashes between RAW and western domestic security services”.
The Washington Post detailed that German police had made arrests in operations to “root out” RAW agents within local Sikh communities, and that the UK’s MI5 security agency had warned India after RAW surveillance of England’s Sikh population.
The newspaper also reported that the expulsion of RAW agents had been the subject of warnings from the Asio director general, Mike Burgess, of a “nest of spies” in a 2021 speech. Burgess said the spies came from a “foreign intelligence service” but did not name their origin, saying Australia was facing espionage and foreign interference attempts “from multiple countries”.
India is a close partner of Australia, a fellow member of the Quad security arrangement with Japan and the United States, and a nation with which successive Australian governments have sought to cultivate closer diplomatic and economic relationships.
The timing of the revelation of Indian espionage is awkward. A fortnight ago, the Albanese government released Australia’s National Defence Strategy praising India as “a top-tier security partner for Australia”. The strategy said Australia would “seek opportunities” to cooperate with India, including “information sharing”.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday: “I don’t comment on intelligence matters.” Asio and the Department of Home Affairs were also contacted for comment.
The Indian high commission in Canberra did not respond to the specific “nest of spies” and expulsion allegations, but circulated a general comment issued earlier by the ministry of external affairs in New Delhi.
The ministry’s official spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, said the Washington Post report – which covered a range of alleged incidents not just the Australian case – made “unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations on a serious matter”.
“Speculative and irresponsible comments on it are not helpful,” Jaiswal said.
Albanese was feted by the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, on a visit to the country last year and joined Modi on his visit to Australia months later. Albanese referred to Modi as “the boss” and compared him to Bruce Springsteen at an arena appearance in Sydney.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, when asked about the story on ABC television on Wednesday, did not deny the veracity of the reporting but declined to comment in-depth.
Chalmers said the “important economic relationship” with India had “become closer in recent years as a consequence of efforts on both sides”.
In his 2021 threat assessment speech in Canberra, Burgess said one Asio investigation had “focused on a nest of spies, from a particular foreign intelligence service, that was operating in Australia”.
“The spies developed targeted relationships with current and former politicians, a foreign embassy and a state police service,” he said.
“They monitored their country’s diaspora community. They tried to obtain classified information about Australia’s trade relationships. They asked a public servant to provide information on security protocols at a major airport.”
Burgess said the group “successfully cultivated and recruited an Australian government security clearance holder who had access to sensitive details of defence technology”.
“Asio acted,” he said. “We investigated, identified and verified the activity. We cancelled the government employee’s security clearance. We confronted the foreign spies and quietly and professionally removed them from Australia.”
Some national security sources on Wednesday questioned whether the departure of the alleged Indian spies amounted to a formal expulsion from Australia, even if that was the practical effect of direct warnings from Asio.
In a podcast interview with Guardian Australia in 2021, Burgess elaborated on how the spies were removed: “We communicated with the foreign intelligence service that owned those officers, the undeclared intelligence officers working for a foreign intelligence service … and we suggested it would be wise if they left the country by a certain date.”
Burgess said the individuals “left freely and quickly”.
