WEAPONS SENT BY DRONE FOR LeT MILITANTS

Jammu and Kashmir police on Saturday claimed arresting three Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) militants from frontier district of Rajouri and said that the weapons and cash recovered from them were sent from across the border and dropped by a drone in an area close to the Line of Control (LoC).

DG police, Dilbag Singh, who was on a visit to Rajouri, told reporters that the arrested LeT cadres were residents of Kashmir Valley who had travelled all the way to the frontier region to receive a weapon and cash consignment from across the LoC.

“Yesterday (Friday), the trio was chased by the jawans of J&K police and the Army’s 38 Rashtriya Rifles unit, after which one of them hurled a grenade at the forces which luckily didn’t explode. They were subsequently caught alive”, he said.

He added, “All the three are affiliated with the Lashkar outfit and were in touch with their handlers from across and had received weapons and cash through drones.”

The weapons seized from the accused identified as Rahil Bashir, Amir Jaan and Younis Wani include two AK 56 rifles, two pistols, four grenades and Rs. 1,00,000 cash, the police said.

The police chief reiterated that charge that Pakistan “is trying hard to keep the pot of militancy boiling in Rajouri and Poonch districts”.

He said “Also, this weapon consignment and cash were aimed at fuelling militancy in Kashmir Valley.”

He further said that this was the first attempt of aerial weapon drop on the LoC and second in the recent past as earlier one drone was shot along with weapons by the BSF on the International Border in Samba district. “We are aware of the challenge and will evolve a counter strategy to foil these bids,” he said in reply to a question.

IGP (Jammu range) Mukesh Singh said that a huge consignment of heroine weighing 7 kilograms and worth `7 crore was seized by the police on September 14.

“The arrest of one person from Kulgam (district in Kashmir Valley) in this connection led to the arrest of three more from Poonch district (bordering LoC) on whose integration 4 more kilograms of heroin worth `4 crore was recovered besides IED making material and a pen drive,” he said.

He added that in the pen drive “there were indications and training sessions as to how an IED can be prepared.”

Meanwhile, the police here said that two “terrorist associates” were arrested by it from Awantipora and Khrew areas of southern Pulwama district. “Incriminating material of proscribed terrorist outfits Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and AlBadr has been recovered from the arrested terror associates,” the police said in a statement here.