Border Security Force (BSF) troops gunned down two armed Pakistani intruders near Rajatal village in Amritsar, 40 kms from the district headquarters, along the India-Pakistan border, in the early hours of Thursday.
A search of the area later revealed an AK-56 rifle, two of its magazines and 61 live rounds; a Magnam rifle (calibre 223 bore, semi-automatic), one of its magazines and 29 live rounds; a Norinco Olympia pistol (calibre 30 bore) and two of its magazines; Rs 30 in Pakistani currency; and two PVC pipes (10 feet each).
The incident took place at 2.18am when the troops of the 71 battalion noticed some suspicious movement across the barbed wire fence and between the zero line at the border, said BSF officials.
“Using searchlights, our jawans noticed the movement of some suspects across the barbed fence. The suspects were warned, but they didn’t pay heed, prompting the troops to open fire,” said a senior BSF official.
He said when the area was searched, two bodies were found on the ground. One of the suspects was carrying an AK-56 rifle. A preliminary investigation suggested that the suspects were trying to smuggle some drugs and weapons into the Indian territory. He said the two men who were gunned down were trying to set up PVC pipes to pierce the barbed wire for smuggling. They had more accomplices with them who managed to flee, taking advantage of the dense fog, he said. The process to identify the deceased men was on, he said.
In an another incident, which occurred around a kilometre further ahead,the same battalion recovered three packets of heroin (weighing a kg each). BSF officials said this incident took place at around 2.10am.
This is the second such incident in the past four months at the Punjab border. In August, the BSF had shot dead five Pakistani intruders in self defence after the infiltrators opened fire on the Indian troops along the India-Pakistan International Border in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district.
