Terror threat near Tibri Cantt, massive search on

Ravi Dhaliwal

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Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, January 6

Around 1,000 Army men and Punjab Police personnel have converted Pandher village, around 2 km from the Tibri cantonment, into a fortress following reports that two armed men in Army uniform were seen moving around in a suspicious manner in the area. Two SWAT teams of the Punjab Police have reached the area.

“The threat is real. It is not a hoax call. We have sounded an alert throughout the state,” said an SSP-level officer. Even as NIA Director General Sharad Kumar held a series of meetings at the Air Force complex in connection with the January 2 Pathankot terror attack, villagers said they saw some people in Army uniform entering sugarcane fields having 15-foot-high crop. 

“The Army has got vacated 500 houses in Pandher and adjoining Bhulechak and Babbehali villages,” sources said. The terrorists who attacked the Pathankot air base and the Dinanagar police station were also in Army uniform. “The fact that the cantonment area is just 2 km away has added to our worries. We cannot take chances. More forces are being requisitioned,” SSP Toor said.

DGP Suresh Arora, who returned to Chandigarh from Pathankot today, was being regularly updated about the developments. A massive search operation was on and neither the Army nor the police were willing to comment.