Weapon snatching by militant cadre and unruly mobs in Kashmir valley is a fad. Only last year Kashmir valley had witnessed 16 incidents of weapon snatching/looting between January 1 and December 31, 2016.
But on late Saturday night the winter capital of the State, Jammu, too witnessed a similar weapon snatching incident involving two youth from Kashmir valley.
Following this weapon snatching incident a high alert was sounded in and around Jammu and all security check points and exit routes were alerted to track down the youth who managed to ran away with the service weapon of J&K police cop.
The entire security grid was alerted as the incident has come to light ahead of the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Jammu on April 2 to inaugurate country's longest road tunnel between Chenani and Nashri.
This is for the first time, youth hailing from South Kashmir district of Shopian, snatched an AK-47 rifle from a police constable near Tawi bridge in Jammu.
Police officers investigating the case claimed the youth had past history of participating in incidents of stone pelting. “We are verifying the records to ascertain whether they had any association with any militant outfit or over ground workers” a senior police officer told The Pioneer.
Reportedly, the youth were roaming in the area for last few days and were probably tasked with the job of weapon snatching.
Swift response by the police teams,however, led to the arrest of one youth along with a motorbike.
According to preliminary reports the youth,riding a motorbike, first intercepted the cop and threw chilly powder in his eyes before hitting him with a baseball bat. The police constable has been identified as 50-year-old Mohammad Hanief.
He was serving as Personal Security Officer (PSO) with Anjuman Minhaj-e-Rasool chairman Maulana Dehlavi. He was returning to District police lines after dropping Dehlavi at the state guest house.
The arrested youth has been identified as Masrool Ahmad son of Abdul Rashid R/o Ratnipora, Shopian.
Masrool has disclosed identity of his associate as Asif son of Mohammad Ali Shah R/o Banpora, Shopian. He was absconding with AK-47 rifle of the police constable.
Day long investigations by the police has revealed that the youth had fixed fake number plate on their motorbike. They are believed to have travelled from Shopian on the same motorbike. Police is working out the details to track down their sympathisers in Jammu, and who had organised their stay in Jammu.