Alert jawans of the Border Security Force (BSF) on Saturday thwarted a terror plot of the Pakistan Rangers to push armed infiltrators into Indian territory with the timely detection of an under-construction 14-feet-long cross-border tunnel in Arnia sub-sector of Jammu frontier.
The tunnel was detected within 24 hours of the Pakistan Rangers attending a sector commander-level flag meeting with their Indian counterparts in Suchetgarh area on Friday. During the meeting, the Pakistan Rangers had assured their Indian counterparts that they would take adequate measures to maintain peace along the International Border.
Inspector-General of BSF, Jammu frontier, Ram Awtar, briefing media persons at Paloura-based BSF frontier headquarters, said, “With the timely detection of cross-border tunnel alert jawans of the BSF have averted a major terror strike in the region”. He said we don’t take Pakistan Rangers on their face value as they had nefarious designs on their mind. It is for this reason our jawans were kept in a state of high alert even after the flag meeting and they were able to detect the tunnel.”
He said the recovery of huge stores of arms, including weapons, ammunition, digging materials and other items, clearly suggested a sinister plot to carry out a terror strike to disturb the peace during the ongoing festive season.
Sharing details, the BSF IG said, “While carrying out search in the area ahead of the barbed wire fence, the BSF party observed suspicious movement of around 10-12 armed Pak nationals on the bank of Dhamala nulla on the Pak side on Saturday morning”. He said the BSF party taking all risk in thick jungle area having number of blind mortar bombs fired from Pakistan reached close to the area to know the nefarious design. On observing strong BSF party close by, the Pak nationals ran away from the spot leaving their huge stores. Suspecting the activity, BSF launched a thorough search in the area and found an unfinished tunnel of about 12-14 feet length, 3 feet height and two and a half feet width on the slop of the Dhamala bank on the Indian side ahead of the fence.
This is the second tunnel which has been detected by the BSF jawans in 2017 in the region. Earlier, a tunnel was detected on Feb 13 last in Ramgarh Sector.
“The connivance of the Pak Rangers in facilitating digging of cross-border tunnel to help infiltrators sneak inside the Indian territory cannot be ruled out”, BSF officers claimed.
According to the BSF, “The digging tools, fresh dug earth and the length of the tunnel clearly suggested that the tunnelling work started very recently with an intent to infiltrate a strong group of terrorists.”
In March 2016 and later in November 2016 also the BSF had exposed the Pakistanis’ nefarious designs of digging cross-border tunnels to infiltrate inside the Indian territory.
In the past, the 194 km-long International Border between Pahadpur and Akhnoor has been frequently exploited by the Pak Rangers to dig tunnels in order to dodge alert BSF jawans.
The following are the recoveries made by the BSF near the site of the tunnel:
i) AK 47 magzine - 02 Nos
ii) Hand grenade - 01 No
iii) 7.62 AMN - 60 Nos
iv) Magazine Pouch -01 No
v) Duracell -13 Nos
vi) Pencil cell - 09 Nos
vii) Head lamps - 03 Nos used during digging
viii) Compass US-made - 01 Nos
ix) Haver sac - 03 Nos used for carrying
x) Jungle hat - 03 Nos
xi) Sleeping bag - 04 Nos
xii) Waterproof rain coat - 04 Nos
xiii) Shawl - 03 Nos
xiv) Gas cylinder stove - 01 No.
xv) Digging tools - 06 Nos
xvi) Wooden planks - 06 Nos
xvii) Apple - 02 Kgs
xviii) Poly bag with home-made eatables -5 Kgs
xix) Chicken spread pkt -01 No
xx) Mixture -03 Pkt
xxi) Chapatties -06 Pkt.
xxiii) Poly sheet white - 01 No big size
xxiv) Rope - 01 No
xxv) Measuring tape - 01 No
xxvi) Full plate - 02 No
xxv) Curry to eat - 5 ltrs in plastic container.
xxvi) T- Shirt - 01 No
xxvii) Sports shoes - 04 Pairs
xxxviii) Knife/Khukhri - 01 No