Srinagar: Indian army recovered a huge collection of arms and ammunition as well as "war-like stores" along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Uri sector, Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir, PTI reports.
An Army officer further said that the seizure includes AK-74 rifles, Pakistani-origin hand grenades and balloons with 'I Love Pakistan' markings etc.
The officer claimed that the development happened while Pakistan was desperate to either infiltrate terrorists or smuggle war-like stores into Kashmir as the number of ultras and arms and ammunition was at an all-time low in the Valley.
General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Army's 19 Infantry Division, Major General Ajay Chandpuria, said raids were conducted based on intelligence inputs from multiple agencies. On Friday, a search operation was launched in the general area of Hathlanga Nala, which lasted for eight hours and concluded with the recovery of arms, ammunition and war-like stores, he said.
The officer said that recoveries include eight AK-74 rifles, 24 AK-74 rifle magazines, 560 7.62mm AK-74 live ammunition, 12 .30mm Chinese pistols, 24 Chinese pistol magazines, 244 .30mm pistol live ammunition, nine Chinese hand grenades, five Pakistani-origin hand grenades, 81 balloons with "I Love Pakistan" marking on them, and five synthetic gunny nags with Pakistani marking.
He told the media, "The situation is near normal in Kashmir valley as the number of terrorists and the availability of war-like stores is at an all-time low. So, there is huge desperation from the other side to either infiltrate terrorists or smuggle war-like stores."
Security forces keep getting such reports on a regular basis, and whether it was an attempt by terrorists or smugglers to get war-like stores cannot be said, Major Gen Chandpuria said, referring to the recovery of the weapons.
"We are still following up on the leads, and certain details cannot be shared, but a movement close to the launchpads was picked up. Probably, they (terrorists) panicked and left the war-like stores behind and withdrew to that side," he said.