Day after India-Pakistan flag meet, BSF detects trans-border tunnel in Jammu’s Arnia sub-sector
Ultras or labourers who were inside the tunnel when BSF personnel detected it, managed to escape to Pakistan.
A day after a sector commander-level flag meeting with Pakistan Rangers, Border Security Force (BSF) has detected another under-construction trans-border tunnel in Arnia sub-sector of RS Pura sector in Jammu district on Saturday.
“Today (Saturday) BSF foiled another nefarious design of Pakistan to infiltrate terrorist groups through a tunnel from Arnia sector to cause havoc in the festival season,” said a senior BSF officer.
He said the tunnel was 14-feet long and spacious enough for terrorists to crawl with arms and ammunition and enter Indian territory.
The tunnel was been discovered in Damala Nullah in Arnia sub-sector which had borne maximum brunt of Pakistani fire from September 15 to September 23.
“Some ultras or laboruers engaged were inside the tunnel, when BSF personnel detected it. The BSF jawans opened fire but they escaped back to Pakistan,” said an intelligence source.
At the sector commander-level flag meeting in Suchetgarh area of RS Pura sector on Friday Pakistan Rangers had committed to uphold the ceasefire agreement.
In absence of a foolproof technology to detect underground tunnels, the BSF initiates various innovative measures to detect tunnels being dug by Pakistan to push armed terrorists in India.
The tunnel found in Arnia on Saturday is the fifth such tunnel found on the international border since July 2012, exposing Pakistan’s sinister game plan of trying to push ultras into Jammu and Kashmir for staging terror attacks.
On February 15 this year, BSF detected another trans-border tunnel in Ramgarh sub sector of Samba district. The discovery effectively foiled a possible infiltration bid by terrorists into India. The tunnel of approximately 20 meters in length with a circumference of 2.5 feet by 2.5 feet originated from Pakistani side and ended 20 metres ahead of the barbed border fence in Indian territory.
A similar tunnel originating from Pakistan, was detected 30 metres inside Indian territory near Allah Mai De Kothe post of the BSF in RS Pura sector of Jammu district on March 3, 2016.
On August 23, 2014, another trans-border tunnel, this time in the Pallanwala sector of Jammu district had caved in due to rains after running 50 metres inside Indian territory in Chakla area near Munawar Tawi in Akhnoor.
The BSF had scuttled an infiltration bid on July 27, 2012 after it detected a trans-border tunnel dug by Pakistan from Lumbriyal post in the Shakkergarh area. The tunnel was 540 metres in the Indian Territory but had caved in due to rains near the Chalyari border outpost in Samba district.