Another cross-border tunnel found in J&K, second in 10 days

The BSF Saturday detected yet another cross-border tunnel near the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district. This was the second tunnel found in Kathua district in the last 10 days.

The latest tunnel, according to BSF officials, is around 150 m long and 30 ft deep. Unlike previously discovered tunnels, though, it has a diameter significantly larger than 3 ft. Officials said the tunnel opened up inside the barbed wire fence between BSF border posts 14 and 15—an area opposite to Pakistan’s Abhiyal Dogra and Kingre-de-Kothe outposts in Shakargarh district. This is the same area where BSF shot down a drone carrying arms and ammunition in June 2020 and foiled an infiltration bid in November 2019.

The use of cross-border tunnels to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir is a common phenomenon. According to BSF, ten cross-border tunnels have been detected in Jammu region in the last six months—four of them in Samba and Kathua districts.

The previous tunnel was found on January 13. It opened up 20-30 m inside the barbed wire fence at Bobbiyan in Kathua’s Hiranagar sector.

In November, the border force had found a tunnel in Samba district’s Regal area through which four heavily armed Jaish-e-Mohammad militants had entered the Union Territory. They were later killed by police and security forces at Ban Toll Plaza near Nagrota on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway.

On Thursday, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha had chaired a meeting of Unified Headquarters and reviewed the security situation with top officers of the police, army and other security forces.