Jammu: The Border Security Force (BSF) has detected a 150-yard long tunnel beneath the India-Pakistan international border fence in Samba sector of Jammu, officials said on Saturday. The tunnel, about 50 metres from the border fence on the Indian side was located by a BSF patrol. The nearest Pakistani post “Gulzar” is around 700-metre away from the tunnel.
The force has launched a major search operation in the area to look for other such hidden structures that aid infiltration of terrorists and smuggling of narcotics and arms. BSF Director General Rakesh Asthana has directed his frontier commanders to ensure that the anti-infiltration grid is intact and there are no gaps along this front.
BSF officials examined the tunnel and found plastic sandbags on its mouth that had "Pakistani markings" on them. About 8-10 plastic sandbags that have "Karachi and Shakargarh" written on them have been recovered from the opening of the tunnel. The expiry date embossed on them indicates that they were manufactured recently,” officials said.
A senior official said BSF troops got suspicious after noticing the sinking of earth at some places due to recent incessant rains. An earth moving machine was immediately pressed into service to completely unearth the tunnel. A spot inspection revealed that the tunnel was under-construction.
The tunnel, as per sources, has a depth of about 25 feet at the opening and has been located near the "whaleback" border post of the BSF. BSF Inspector General (Jammu) NS Jamwal visited the spot to oversee the operation.
The force has been conducting a mega "anti-tunnel drive" in the IB areas of Jammu and other places after five armed infiltrators were recently killed in Punjab.
The entire BSF formation deployed across the 3,300 km International Border that runs along Jammu, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat is on extra alert as there are multiple intelligence inputs of terrorists trying to breach the IB and infiltrate into India, officials said.
