As part of an ongoing investigation, the Jammu & Kashmir police on Sunday seized three more AK-47 rifles and large chunks of ammunition near the Line of Control in the Mandi area of Poonch district.
With this development, the number of AK-47 rifles seized in the area after a fortnight of questioning of three arrested Army porters has risen to seven, officials said.
Earlier, barely two weeks ago, police had seized four AK rifles along with ammunition from two different locations.
Identifying the trio as Tariq Sheikh of Azamabad, Riyaz Ahmad and Mohammad Shafi from Chamber Kinari village, officials said police foiled a cross-border Hizbul Mujahideen plan to revive its terror network in the Poonch district. The three, arrested two weeks ago, are in their 20s.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP) for Jammu zone, Bhimsen Tuti, took to social media platform X to praise the Jammu 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,’’ the post read.
Sources said Sheikh and Riyaz were arrested after two AK rifles were recovered from raids in Azamabad on August 30. After relentless questioning, police seized two more AK rifles from Sheikh’s rented accommodation in Mandi Jallian and apprehended Shafi from Chamber Kinari village.
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On Sunday, three more rifles, along with seven magazines, were recovered from across the barbed-wire border fence in the Sawjian area, sources said.
After smuggling two consignments from across the LoC, the porters were arrested before managing to transport the third one, sources said, adding that terrorists from Pakistan are dropping arms consignments near the barbed wire fence.
The accused worked for Hizbul Mujahideen commander Habibullah, who had crossed the LoC from Sawjian in the 1990s to stay in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, police said, adding that he had recently become active to revive Hizbul in Poonch.
