Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir Police, on Sunday, seized three more AK-47 rifles, seven magazines and a large quantity of ammunition from across the border fence in Sawjian, in the Mandi area of Poonch. With this, the number of such weapons seized over the last two weeks has gone up to seven.
According to the police, these weapons were being smuggled into India to revive the Hizbul Mujahideen’s terror network in the Poonch sector of the union territory.
The seizures followed the arrest of three Army porters, identified as Tariq Sheikh of Azamabad and Riyaz Ahmad and Mohammad Shafi from Chamber Kinari village nearly two weeks ago. The trip, in their twenties, would pick up the consignments of weapons from across the fence and store them for use later.
Sheikh and Ahmad were arrested after the seizure of two AK-47 during raids in Azamabad on August 30. Two more assault rifles were seized from Sheikh’s rented accommodation in Mandi Jallian and Shafi was arrested from the Chamber Kinari village.
The three knew the territory well as they worked as porters for the Army. After smuggling two consignments from across the Line of Control (LoC), they were arrested before managing to transport the third one, an official said. This as the consignment seized on Sunday.
Pakistani terrorists are leaving these arms consignments near the LoC to be taken into India by the porters working for Hizbul commander Habibullah, who had crossed the LoC from Sawjian in the 1990s to stay in Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the police said. It is Habibullah who has now become active to revive the banned outfit in Poonch.
Bhimsen Tuti, Inspector General of Police (IGP) for Jammu zone, took to X to praise the Jammu and Kashmir Police for its “fantastic investigation”.
“Dogged determination and relentless investigation leads to the arrest of 03 terror sympathisers, along with the recovery of 07 AKs (04 recovered earlier) and a large quantity of warlike stores in Poonch,” he stated.
