JAMMU: The BSF on Wednesday unearthed a 150m-long tunnel along the international border in Kathua district’s Hiranagar sector, purportedly constructed to facilitate the infiltration of terrorists into India from Pakistan. This is the third such tunnel found in Jammu over the past six months.
“On specific intelligence inputs, alert BSF troops detected the tunnel near Bobiya border outpost area in Hiranagar this (Wednesday) morning. The tunnel has an opening of about two-three feet, is around 20-30ft deep and 150m-long from the opening point with its origin towards Pakistani territory,” BSF IG (Jammu frontier) N S Jamwal, who visited the spot, said. On the opposite side is Pakistan’s Shakergarh, which is notorious for having launch pads and bases for terrorists.
“With a spate in inputs regarding tunnelling activities by Pakistani elements, BSF carried out an anti-tunnelling exercise all along the international border to thwart infiltration bids,” Jamwal said. Sandbags with Pakistani markings found in the tunnel indicated the involvement of the Pakistani establishment in its construction, akin to the previously detected tunnels which also had such sandbags, he added.
“Pakistan is always looking for an opportunity to push terrorists into J&K. They are continuing with the attempts but we are fully alert about the situation,” a BSF official said.
Last year, the BSF had detected two similar tunnels in Samba district on August 28 and November 22, besides successfully neutralising infiltrators believed to have used these tunnels. Three Jaish-e-Mohammad ultras from Pakistan were killed in an encounter in Nagrota after they were intercepted aboard a Kashmir-bound truck in January last year, and four Pakistani terrorists armed with weapons and a huge cache of grenades were slain at the same spot on November 19.