Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 11: Army and police today thwarted a major terror plot by effecting huge recoveries of arms, explosives and ammunition, smuggled from Pakistan, at Sabra Gali forests across the fencing on the Line of Control (LoC) at Balakote sector in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district.
This was after a long gap that Army and police have made such a huge recovery of arms and explosives, which included four AK-47 rifles and an equal number of pistols.
The smuggling of arms and explosives were aimed at reviving the dying militancy, official sources said.
The consignment of arms and explosives had been wrapped in three plastic bags and one jute bag of fertilizers and smuggled into the Indian side.
Top officers of Army and police rushed to the spot after getting a report of the recoveries. A massive search operation has been launched in the area but preliminary reports confirmed that there had been no successful infiltration.
According to sources, the recoveries included four AK-47 rifles, four pistols, seven radio sets, one Under Barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL), one UBGL grenade, 1019 AK rounds, three mobile handsets, one power Improvised Explosive Device (IED) with remote control, eight AK magazines, five pistol magazines and a large quantity of eatables.
Sources said CID (Counter Intelligence) and Mendhar police had developed specific information about the dump of arms, ammunition and explosives lying ahead of the fencing at Sabra Gali forests of Balakote sector. The CID (CI) and police planned a joint operation with Army including 5 Grenadiers and 49 Rashtriya Rifles and after day long searches made the recoveries.
The seized consignment of arms and explosives were today shifted to Mendhar.
120 Infantry Brigade Commander M Suchitra Kumar, 49 RR Commanding Officer Col MK Mishra, 5 Grenadiers Commanding Officer Col Vikram Singh Samyal, SSP Poonch Shamsheer Hussain and Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Mendhar Amit Bhasin supervised the operation and camped at the spot till the recoveries were made and shifted to the safer areas.
Searches continued in the forests of Sabra Gali, which was an infiltration route of the militants from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) though no successful intrusion has been reported from the areas for past quite sometime. However, no arrests have been made.
Sources said though there didn’t appear to be any successful infiltration from the area, the consignment of arms, ammunition and explosives appeared to have been smuggled into the Indian territory by some guides ahead of the intrusion bid.
“The consignment was meant for the militants, who might have planned to infiltrate into this side,’’ sources said but added that a major terror plot of the militants has been thwarted with the recoveries.
IGP Jammu Zone, Rajesh Kumar said the recoveries were significant but didn’t rule out that they might have been smuggled long back.
“The consignment has been seized. Investigations were on,’’ Mr Kumar said.
SSP Poonch Shamsheer Hussain told the Excelsior on phone from Mendhar that the recoveries were made in a joint operation conducted by police and Army.
He said investigations were being conducted to ascertain how and when the consignment was smuggled by the militants or their guides into the Indian territory.
The Intelligence agencies had specific inputs that the militants could indulge in strike in Jammu region to take revenge of the killing of Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Ranjay, who had been severely beaten-up in Kot Bhalwal jail on May 3 and had succumbed to his injuries at PGIMER Chandigarh on May 9.
Sources admitted that some guides might have intruded into the Indian side, dumped the consignment in the forests and escaped back. The consignment was to be picked up by the militants. However, the timely action by Army and police thwarted the major terror plot by the militants.
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