AK-47 rifle, magazine found in Gurdaspur area where drone dropped consignment

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 22

Barely 48 hours after the recovery of 11 HG Arges 84 hand grenades, the Punjab Police on Tuesday recovered an AK-47 rifle and a magazine with 30 live cartridges, evidently a part of the same consignment that was dropped by the Pak drone in BOP Chakri area in Gurdaspur district on Sunday.

The seizure comes amid concerns raised by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh of fresh spurt of efforts by Pakistan-based militants to disturb the border state’s peace.  The Chief Minister had recently also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in this regard.

According to Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta, an extensive search operation had been launched by the Gurdaspur police in the area where the drone, which was fired at by the police and the BSF, was sighted. He said the package containing the assault rifle appeared to have been dropped in the wheat fields in the area of village Wazir Chak, 1.5 km from Salach village, PS Dorangla (Gurdaspur).

Gupta said the recovered assault rifle and the magazine with 30 live cartridges had also been attached with a wooden frame and lowered from the drone with a nylon rope like the hand grenades which were recovered from village Salach on Sunday.

He said this package seemed to be a part of the same consignment, which was dropped by the drone on the night of December 19. The spot where the assault rifle was found is just about 1.5 km from the spot from where the hand grenades were recovered, he said.

Gupta said an FIR (159) had been registered under Section 3, 4, 5 Explosive Substances Act on Sunday and search operations were still continuing as follow-up action.