PUNJAB ON TERROR ALERT
The Punjab Police’s counter-intelligence wing on Thursday issued a ‘high alert’ after getting inputs about the possibility of six-seven fidayeens belonging to Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad having sneaked into the state.
JAMMU/PATHANKOT: Even as police could not trace the Toyota Innova car two days after it was snatched from a driver in the Madhopur area of Pathnkot district on Tuesday night, a senior official ruled out terror angle in the case.
Four persons had snatched the car at gunpoint after they hired it from the taxi stand at the Jammu railway station. The cab driver, Raj Kumar of Doda in the Jammu region, told police that the four men were talking in Punjabi dialect which is spoken in Pakistan’s Punjab province. The vehicle has a registration number JK02AW-0922.
An alert has been sounded in Pathankot and Kathua in the neighouring Jammu and Kashmir bordering the two states.
Inspector general of police (IGP Amritsar border range) Surinder Pal Singh Parmar said, “The Tuesday’s carjacking incident does not have any terror angle. We have got video footage from Jammu also and have circulated it in the entire region, including the border belt. All our officers are working on it but the carjackers must be lying low for the time being to evade arrest.”
Parmar further said, “It appears to be a case of carjacking only. Their last location traced to Madhopur and they didn’t cross other toll barriers thereafter.”
“They may have gone to other area but we are leaving nothing to chance and checking all silver-coloured toyota Innova cars. They might have also changed the number plate. Every criminal has a different modus operandi but there is nothing to worry about,” the IGP said.
COPS RELY ON CCTV FOOTAGE, TOLL PLAZA
The Pathankot police are scanning the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage to track down the four criminals who snatched an Innova .
The cops are also procuring details of the toll post from where the snatchers could have crossed after the crime.
Pathankot senior superintendent of police (SSP) Vivek Sheel Soni and his team are in regular touch with their Jammu and Kashmir counterparts.
The four men had also argued with the toll post man at Lakhanpur in Jammu and Kashmir claiming that they were armymen and were exempted from paying toll.
The toll official who dealt with the persons was also quizzed by the police officials on Thursday. The driver and dhaba owner where the four along with the driver took dinner are also being quizzed by the Punjab police.
It appears to be a case of carjacking only. Their last location was traced to Madhopur and they didn’t cross other toll barriers thereafter. There’s nothing to worry about. SURINDER PAL SINGH PARMAR, IGP, Amritsar border range