The Punjab Police and other security agencies launched a search operation in some areas of Pathankot and Gurdaspur districts in Punjab on Wednesday after nearly six suspicious men were sighted in the area.
The accused jumped a police check post at Behrampur village in Gurdaspur district on Tuesday night and later abandoned their SUV in the dense forest area of Makhanpur village falling in Pathankot, on seeing police following them.
The Makhanpur village where the vehicle was found abandoned is barely five kilometers from India-Pakistan International border and is the same route from where militants, who had stormed the Pathankot airbase, sneaked in after abducting three persons, including one SP rank officer.
Deputy superintendent of police (DSP rural) Kuldip Singh told HT that at about 8.30pm on Tuesday, police officials of Behrampur signalled a Scorpio SUV coming from Makora Pattan side to stop, but the driver fled the spot, after which police sounded an alert.
He said at the next station in Marara village, police once again tried to stop the car but the occupants again managed to flee from the side of Dhussi bundh using pantoon bridge. Later, they abandoned their vehicle in the forests of Makhanpur village.
{{/usCountry}}He said at the next station in Marara village, police once again tried to stop the car but the occupants again managed to flee from the side of Dhussi bundh using pantoon bridge. Later, they abandoned their vehicle in the forests of Makhanpur village.
{{/usCountry}}“We have recovered the original number plate of the SUV, which bears a number JK19-2787, while the occupants had changed the number plate to PB06-6508 to dodge the police, it seems,” he added.
“We have learnt from our J&K counterparts that the vehicle was snatched by some Gujjar community members from Vijaypur, Jammu, who had hired it from one Mushtaq of Ramban area. The search operation is on and we hope to nab them all soon,” the DSP said.
When asked about any militants angle in the case, he claimed that prima facia, it seems that the persons are actually from Gujjar community as they had asked the way from one Gujjar child near Behrampur on the way to Narot Jaimal Singh in the local dialect.
The ongoing tension between India and Pakistan has already put the security agencies on high alert in these two border districts where militants had struck, killing several security persons in the past.