Jammu: Three Pakistani intruders were gunned down Sunday by the BSF as it scuttled a major narcotic smuggling attempt and recovered 36 kgs heroin worth crores of rupees along the International Border in Samba sector of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.
This was the fourth narcotic smuggling bid foiled by the BSF troops along the border this year, while a total of nine Pakistani intruders were eliminated in various such attempts in the past one year, Inspector General of Border Security Force (BSF), Jammu frontier, D K Boora said.
“We had a very good operation the previous night when the alert troops eliminated a narcotic smuggling attempt from Pakistan. The smugglers tried to take advantage of the darkness and foggy conditions to smuggle the huge quantity of narcotics into this side,” Boora, who rushed to the border outpost Bainglar where his troops made the biggest recovery this year, told reporters.
Displaying the seized items, he said the surveillance equipment picked up the movement of the smugglers and accordingly the troops on the forward duty points were alerted.
“When they reached near the border fence, they were challenged by the troops and subsequently all the three intruders were neutralised. The search of the area led to the recovery of 36 packets of narcotics, while a pistol with a magazine and nine rounds were recovered from one of the slain intruders,” the BSF officer said. In addition, Rs 9,820 in Pakistani currency, a knife and a Pak-made cough syrup were also seized from the slain intruders, he said.
Lauding his troops for the success, Boora said over the past one year, not a single attempt from Pakistan had gone unnoticed and every single attempt was successfully foiled by the border guards.
“It is a big achievement for the BSF…We have been getting specific inputs about possible attempts of narcotic smuggling over the past 10 days,” he said, adding the BSF remains on high alert and never lowers its guard.
“We had four incidents of narcotic smuggling this year and all the attempts were successfully thwarted. At least three people were needed to carry such a load,” he said.
The IG BSF said his men are ready to face any challenge and are maintaining tight vigil all along the International Border to foil any attempt from across the border.
Asked whether the slain smugglers were also affiliated with any terrorist organisation, he said it is a matter of investigation.
“The operation is on and so is the investigation. We will share further detail when we reach some conclusion,” he said.
Earlier, Deputy Inspector General of BSF S P S Sandhu said the narcotic smuggling attempt was foiled around 2.30 am, leading to the recovery of 36 packets – each packet weighing one kg and most likely containing heroin.
The recovery was worth over Rs 180 crore in the international market, an official said.
Sandhu, who is also public relations officers of BSF, Jammu frontier, said the intruders were trying to smuggle the narcotics through the border fencing with a plastic pipe.
“This huge narcotic seizure on International Border has once again exposed the evil designs of Pakistani smugglers and made a big dent on their nefarious activities,” he said, adding a total of 79 kg of heroin has been seized in the past one year with four intruders also apprehended.
PTI