Pak handlers had tasked them to disrupt DDC polls
Nailing the white lies of Pakistan over its involvement in fomenting terrorism from its soil the Indian security forces Sunday detected the footprints of four Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists infiltrated inside the Indian territory through an underground tunnel in the Regal area of Samba sector.
The same group of terrorists, tasked to disrupt the smooth conduct of the District Development Council (DDC) polls by their Pak handlers, were gunned down by the security forces at Ban Toll Plaza located along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway on November 19.
Director-General of Jammu and Kashmir police Dilbagh Singh on Sunday said, “all four JeM terrorists crawled through the 160 meters long and 25 feet deep tunnel to infiltrate inside the Indian territory.”
Singh said, “Pakistan always remained in a state of denial. It never accepted its involvement in aiding and abetting terrorism.” In this particular case, the cement bags used to cover the pit, the ration supplies, medicines, mobile handsets, radio sets seized from the JeM terrorists all had markings of ‘Made in Pakistan‘. He said, the cross border tunnel originated from the Pakistani side and runs through the International border on the Indian side.
Inspector General of BSF, Jammu Frontier, N S Jamwal visited the tunnel site on Sunday to supervise the anti tunneling operation. Jamwal said the tunnel was used by the JeM terrorists to sneak inside the Indian territory to execute a terror plot ahead of DDC polls.
How the tunnel was detected by the BSF and JKP?
Soon after the four JeM Terrorists were gunned down by the joint team of security forces near Ban Toll Plaza in Nagorta on Thursday the large quantities of arms and ammunition and mobile handsets, GPS enabled Radio sets were recovered from the encounter site[1].
After carefully analyzing these gadgets and retrieving the data the police team zeroed in on the possible infiltration route used by the JeM terrorists.
After sharing the specific inputs a specialized team of BSF soldiers along with J&K police involved in anti tunneling operations were deployed on ground zero to detect the opening of a tunnel in the Regal area.
Inspector General of BSF N S Jamwal said experts had assisted in making the tunnel. There were footsteps inside the tunnel, he added.
Pak rangers from the nearest Pakistan BOPs Chak Bhura, Rajab Sahid, and Asif Sahid are learned to have assisted in the tunnel construction work.
Role of a local guide under the scanner?
Inspector-General of Police, Jammu Range Mukesh Singh Sunday said “the JeM terrorists had infiltrated inside the Indian territory through this tunnel on November 18 between 8.30 and 9.00 pm.”
He said the terrorists took around 5 to 6 hours to reach the National Highway. From there the group boarded the Kashmir bound truck in the wee hours. The truck reportedly crossed Thandi Khui Toll Plaza at 3.44 am on November 19 before reaching Ban Toll Plaza around 4.50 am.
Singh said, the police teams are investigating different leads in the case and also looking for a guide who may have helped the members of the ‘fidayeen‘ squad to safely reach the highway and assisted them in locating the truck parked on the highway. Meanwhile, Pakistan continues to rely on drones to airdrop weapons and narcotics to keep the terror pot boiling in Jammu and Kashmir.
Note:
1. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
References:
[1] Pak efforts to disrupt DDC polls foiled – Nov 19, 2020, PGurus.com
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When the Indian officials find such a tunnel, they may try to bring a big smoke blower and blow colored smoke through it. Then, take videos to demonstrate the smoke coming out on the other side of the border. Where the tunnel is of a short length, it would not require much smoke.
Of course, another option is to pretend to have not discovered the tunnel and place poisonous snakes and other animals to take care of the subsequent crawlers.
Or trapping subsequent terrorists can also be planned by keeping a watch on it.