Barmer police chase down smugglers, one more held

Jaisalmer: Following the firing exchange with smugglers and then a 26-km chase in the hills on Friday in Siwana police station area, police in Barmer district said they had recovered 1,252 kg doda post from three Scorpio cars, three pistols, one country-made pistol and 16 live cartridges, and arrested one more smuggler.
SP Digant Anand said that SHOs of five police stations and about 50 officers and jawans were part of the action after SHO Balotra and SHO Dhorimanna in a joint operation stopped suspicious Scorpio vehicles in the wee hours of Friday at Ramaniya village border.
He said that smugglers travelling in the vehicles opened fire and hit a police vehicle, which overturned and the personnel sitting inside sustained injuries. SHO Dhorimanna had a narrow escape when a bullet broke through the windscreen and whisked past near him, the SP said.
Anand said that the smugglers tried to flee but police teams chased them and at Ramaniya village caught Kheenyaram from one of the vehicles. The other smugglers in the vehicle ran away on foot in the hills.
Police launched a search operation and by late evening caught five smugglers. The entire chase was over a distance of 26 km, Anand said.
In the counter firing by the police, a smuggler named Jogaram was injured. He was among those caught in the chase, the SP said, adding that all the arrested accused are notorious for narcotics and weapons smuggling, with several cases registered against them in many police stations.