The Border Security Force (BSF) on Friday reported detecting a tunnel along the Jammu-Pakistan border.
The tunnel has been found days after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a charge-sheet in the 2019 Pulwama terror case, saying that several Pakistani terrorists infiltrated from the sector between the months of March to May in 2018, with high grade RDX explosives that were used to assemble the 200 kilogramme bomb deployed in the attack. Forty Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in the suicide attack.
The BSF said in a statement that on August 28, “during an anti tunnelling drive, while carrying out in-depth scanning of area, it suspected a place at International Border in district Samba and detected 25 feet deep tunnel with a 3-4 feet diameter”.
The BSF said it found Pakistani made sand bags with markings of “Shakargarh/Karachi factories” at the mouth of the tunnel.
The opening of the tunnel is around 170 metres from the International Border in the field of a local farmer, the BSF said.
“The tunnel’s origin is in Pakistan territory close to the IB. Efforts of alert BSF troops deployed in our multi-tiered counter-infiltration grid once again resulted in neutralizing the evil designs of terrorists in deep connivance with Pakistani establishment,” the BSF said.
N.S. Jamwal, Inspector General, BSF, said the condition of the tunnel suggested that it had been freshly dug.
The NIA said in a statement after the Pulwama charge-sheet was filed that: “Investigation revealed a well crafted mechanism by Pakistani establishment to push terrorists into the Indian territory from the launch pads located in Shakargarh (Pakistan) opposite Samba-Kathua Sector in Jammu.”
