Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Dec 28: Army today recovered a major cache of arms and ammunition near the Line of Control (LoC) in the frontier district of Kupwara during searches.
A Srinagar based defence spokesman said here today that based on tip off, a search operation was launched by the troops deployed near the LoC in the Farkian Gali area of Kupwara district. “During the searches, major haul of weapons including 20 AK 47 Rifles and 20 Pistols along with huge amount of ammunition, hidden one kilometer inside the Line of Control were recovered”, the spokesman said.
The spokesman said that inputs were being received over last few days by the Army from the sources about the likely bid for infiltration or pushing the arms across the LoC. “Accordingly, the troops were put on high alert and searches were being carried out in the suspected areas. Search operations were conducted early morning today and they led to the recovery of large cache of arms and ammunition from a place which is between the Line of Control and the Anti Infiltration Obstacle System (AIOS)”, the spokesman added.
The spokesman said that General Officer Commanding (GOC) 15 Corps, Lt Gen Gurmit Singh, commended the troops deployed on LoC for their alertness and vigil, leading to preventing such a large quantity of weapons from falling into the hands of militants.
A senior Army officer said here that militants are planning infiltration during the winter months. They want to send in as many militants as they can and for this large number of militants are waiting on the LoC.
Army has also intensified its anti-infiltration grid to prevent the infiltration attempts from the militants.
In the meantime, sources said that Jammu and Kashmir Police arrested one Riyaz Ahmad, a local trained militant of Lashkar-e-Toiba from Budgam today.
Sources said that Riyaz had recently joined militancy and had fled from the security cordon early this week from Ichkote area of Budgam along with a Pakistani militant Omar.
Omar, was injured during the security forces firing at Ichkote but was killed at village Hushroo in Budgam day after his escape during a fierce encounter.
It may be mentioned here that security forces launched a massive search operation in Budgam area after a LeT militant Latif Ahmad Rather was arrested from Srinagar. Latif’s disclosures led to the major operations in which Omar was killed.
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