Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 28: Army and police have averted a major terror plot in Doda district by recovering a large quantity of arms, ammunition and explosive material including 30 kg RDX and one powerful Improvised Explosive Device (IED) from two separate hideouts in Gandoh area of Doda district. The seized explosive material was capable of causing extensive damage.
Official sources said a joint team of Rashtriya Rifles and Gandoh police conducted searches in dense Naglotan forests in Bhalessa area falling under the jurisdiction of Gandoh police station in Doda district this morning and detected two hideouts of the militants within a distance of half a kilometer.
Both the hideouts were located in natural caves within the dense forests.
Army and police recovered a large quantity of arms, ammunition and explosives from the twin hideouts, which included 30 kg RDX, one powerful IED weighing one kg, one AK-56 rifle with 10 magazines and 555 rounds, one Self Loading Rifle (SLR) with three magazines, one Chinese pistol with one magazine and two rounds, two twelve bore rifles, two radio sets, one country made revolver, 175 detonators, one twelve bore country made pistol, 3 I Com wireless sets, two walky talky sets, 20 UBGL shells, one radio set, one walkman, one binocular, two cassette players, one packet containing 500 grams sharpnel and one solar battery charger.
Sources said this was after the long time that Army and police have recovered such a huge quantity of explosive material and weapons in Doda district, which had been declared virtually free of militancy. Though, sources said, the consignment of weapons and explosives could be old when the militants were active in the district, they didn’t rule out the attempts to revive militancy in the district.
Sources said the hideouts might be belonging to militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen, who were once very active in Doda district. They added that Army and police had to use sniffer dogs to trace entire consignment of arms, ammunition and explosives, which had been dumped deep inside the natural cave hideouts in Naglotan forests.
Sources said a plot to revive militancy in Doda district and surrounding areas has been foiled by Army and police with timely recovery of explosive material as such a large quantity of explosives including 30 kg RDX were capable of causing extensive damage.
Army and police have launched massive search operations in the forests but they didn’t anticipate any major arrests in the area.
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