Local contacts arrested

BHUJ, June 14: The police have arrested two suspected local contacts of the five Pakistanis who tried to smuggle in 24 kgs of RDX and a l...

BHUJ, June 14: The police have arrested two suspected local contacts of the five Pakistanis who tried to smuggle in 24 kgs of RDX and a large quantity of arms and ammunition into the border district of Kutch earlier this month. Two Chinese-made pistols have been seized from them.

The men are Tamachi Khengarji Ful Jadeja of Vanar Vandh and Jakaria Jatt of Sanandhro village. Both have been booked under the Arms Act. Jakaria has reportedly admitted during interrogation that the pistol was given to him by the Pakistani smugglers during their last trip in February.

Police sources said Jadeja was a relative of Karachi-based transporter Alana Seth, who hires men for ISI operations in the border district.

It is Alana Seth who had sent the consignment of RDX and pistols. Sources said Jakaria had admitted that he also knew Alana Seth, but said he had only asked Alana to send Rs 5 lakh in Pakistan currency in exchange for fake Indian currency.

With the arrest of Jadeja and Jakaria, the police is optimistic of a breakthrough. 8220;We are working on some vital clues provided by the local suspects. Give us some more time,8221; said DIG for border range P P Aagja.

Of the five Pakistanis who are currently being interrogated, four have been found to be mere carriers who were paid Rs 5,000 each. The interrogators are focusing on the fifth man, Sultanshah alias Kayamshah Minya Saiyad, who carried an identity card of the ISI, but says he knew nothing about the destination of the consignment.

However, Sultanshah has disclosed that this was their second attempt. In the first instance, they had sailed out from Shah Bandar, but the journey had to be abandoned because of the cyclone on May 20. They sailed out again on May 28 from Ketty Bandar in a hired boat and reached the Indian coast on June 2, only to be caught by the police.

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Interestingly, Sultanshah hails from Bada village of coastal Mandvi taluka and had illegally migrated to Pakistan in 1984. He has told the interrogators that in 1998 when he returned to Pakistan after a clandestine trip to India, he was caught by Major Siddiqui of the ISI, kept in solitary confinement, badly beaten up and threatened with death unless he agreed to work for the ISI.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police and Intelligence Bureau have praised the Kutch police for catching the five Pakistanis alive although they were armed, sources said. Director of IB Shyamal Dutta has, in fact, congratulated the Kutch police. The sixth man, Hussain Kutchhi Mandhra, who was the kigpin, was shot in an army action in the jungle of Deshalpur.