PK Jaiswar
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, August 9
Following the seizure of a tiffin bomb, hand grenades and RDX from a bag dropped using drones from across the International Border at Bachiwind village, the police were trying to identify the forward links of Pakistan-based anti-national elements for whom the explosives were meant.
The police launched a combing operation, led by DSP Gurinderpal Singh Nagara and DSP Gurpartap Singh Sahota besides other officials, after information regarding movement of drones in the border village was received, leading to the recovery of explosives from the riverine area of Daleke- Beharwal village.
SSP Gulneet Khuranna said they got a tip off from a former sarpanch of Bachiwind village about the movement of drones. “The dropping was made near the village, located 1.5 km from the border. It seems someone retrieved the bag and later abandoned it in the Daleke-Beharwal village area 2 km from spot,” he said, adding the operation was on to find if more such bags were dropped.
The police was investigating the intended target of the explosives as Independence Day celebrations were round the corner. Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh was slated to unfurl the Tricolour in Amritsar on August 15.
“We cannot pinpoint target at the moment. There are a number of military installations in the area. It was a chance recovery. Anybody could be the target,” said the SSP, adding security had been beefed up.
Jagga Singh of Bachiwind village first noticed the drone movement and informed the former sarpanch. “I had gone to the fields to switch on the tubewell, when I noticed the drone,” he told. This is perhaps the first time that an improvised explosive device has been found to have been smuggled from across the border.
Meanwhile, the NSG defused the IED while Punjab Police took the hand grenades, which would be defused by the bomb disposal squad of Punjab Armed Police.
Tiffin bomb: Hunt on for co-plotters; combing ops under way
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