Kashmiri OGW held with arms, ammunition in Jammu

JAMMU: A Kashmir-based overground worker was arrested with arms and ammunition in Jammu’s Nagota late Tuesday. Nagrota Police registered an FIR against him under the Arms Act and launched an investigation to trace the origin and intended use of the weapons.

The suspect, Azan Hameed Gazi from Hilalabad, Qamarwari, in Srinagar, was travelling from Jammu towards Srinagar in an SUV when police intercepted him at a traffic control check-post on Nagrota Byepass, police said Wednesday.

A search of the vehicle yielded three pistols, empty magazines, eight live cartridges, and two empty cartridges from a bag concealed under the front passenger seat, police said. “The suspect failed to produce any valid documents or licenses for the arms and ammunition,” said a cop.

Meanwhile, a joint team of security forces launched a search operation in Kathua district’s Chabba Chak, Rampur and adjoining areas in Rajbagh sector Wednesday to trace two terror suspects allegedly spotted the previous night.

The fresh searches coincided with another combing operation — aimed to hunt down three terror suspects spotted by a villager in Rajbagh area two nights ago — already underway in the district since Tuesday. That operation entered its second day on Wednesday.

Though no suspects have been sighted yet, officials said “surveillance has been heightened in the area and along national highway, besides border links roads”, since Samba-Kathua districts fall on cross-border infiltration routes.