Killed intruders may be smugglers

BHUJ, Oct 19: The identity of the three Pakistani infiltrators killed on Friday by an alert Border Security Force (BSF) patrol party eigh...

BHUJ, Oct 19: The identity of the three Pakistani infiltrators killed on Friday by an alert Border Security Force (BSF) patrol party eight kms inside the Indian territory near the BSF’s furthest Border Observation Post (BOP) at Vingo Kot in the Rann of Kutch, some 250 kms from here, has yet not been established. But from circumstantial evidences it appear that they were cross-border smugglers having entered the area from across Badia area of Pakistan.

A top BSF source said on Monday that two sniffer dogs, one of which is killed in the cross fire, had accompanied them. The foot-prints of the two dead Pakistanis and the dog matched with that of the two of the six men and the dog who had previously come to the area three months back, but fled back to Pakistan when spotted by the BSF jawans.

Sources said the BSF intelligence branch known as the `G’ branch had then alerted the troops in the area as they feared the same intruders can come again to take out their hidden goods, lying buried somewhere in the Indian territory. This time all the five Pakistani nationals had intruded well inside the Indian territory in broad daylight with their two sniffer dogs. They were challenged by the BSF patrol party. The intruders opened fired on them and the BSF retaliated. Four of them were hit while one succeeded in escaping. Later, the BSF found the bodies of three, but nothing is known about the fourth.

The bodies were handed over to the district police who buried them at Kahvda after a postmortem by government doctors. Army here claimed that its intelligence wing shared information with other agencies that the ISI of Pakistan had piled up huge stock of arms, RDX and other lethal explosives at Kuwal village.

Police personnel seen to control the situation during a massive protest over the statehood demand and the inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule, in Leh on Wednesday. (ANI Video Grab)

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