Army, BSF sound red alert along LOC, IB in J&K

JAMMU: Taking serious note of Pakistan using Chinese drones to airdrop weapons in Punjab, the Indian Army and Border Security Force has sounded an all-out alert along the entire Indo-pak border and LOC, asking boarder guarding troops and observation posts to keep a “hawk’s eye” over similar air-intrusions in future.

Gps-fitted drones capable of lifting up to 10kg of weight flew in from Pakistan seven to eight times to airdrop several cache of arms, ammunition and fake currency, which were seized in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district, the ongoing probe by the Punjab police has revealed.

The army and BSF officials said the troops and observation posts have been asked to maintain the highest possible vigilance along the International Border and Line of Control in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri, Poonch and Baramulla, Kupawara districts of the state.

“It is a new modus operandi of Pakistan to smuggle arms, ammunition and explosives in India for triggering terror. We have activated our forces to keep a hawk’s eye on movement of drones along the IB,” BSF officials said.

BSF LAUNCHES OPERATION TO DETECT CROSS-BORDER TUNNEL

The BSF has launched a massive operation along the IB with Pakistan to detect underground, cross-border tunnels in view of possible infiltration attempts by armed terrorists into J&K, officials said on Thursday.

Armed with modern tools and equipment, BSF personnel began the operation with clearing bushes and digging and tilling the land close to the threetier border fencing up to the Zero Line with Pakistan.

“The exercise has been launched along the IB in the Jammu frontier area to detect cross-border, underground tunnel,” a senior BSF officer said.

The officials said the troops had been asked to dig anti-tunnelling trenches of a particular depth along the border fencing in Jammu, Samba and Kathua.

The operation was initiated earlier this week following the arrest of a Pakistani youth from a village in the R S Pura sector in Jammu.

The BSF launched a mega exercise to fortify the “anti-infiltration grid” along the border with Pakistan in Punjab and Jammu in July this year, and mobilised its entire senior field brass, thousands of troops and machinery.