A top police officer in southern Kashmir on Wednesday claimed that the weapons recovered from a truck near Jawahar Tunnel on Jammu-Srinagar national highway were seemingly meant for new militant recruits.
A US M-4 carbine, an AK-47 rifle and six Chinese pistols were recovered from a truck last night.
“The pistols were seemingly meant for recruiting new people into militancy,” DIG south Kashmir Atul Goel said while addressing a press conference at Amno, SoG camp in Kulgam district today, reported news agency KNO.
He police have so far been able to contain the local militant recruitment after it witnessed a sharp rise earlier. “We will not allow the recruitment to gain ground again,” he said.
Asked about the arrests made and whether weapon consignment was meant to be delivered in South Kashmir, he said that two people including the driver of the truck and the co-driver have been arrested.
A special investigation team (SIT) has been constituted to further investigate where the weapons were headed. “Prima facie it looks like that the pistol consignment was meant for recruitment of new youth. Investigations are on and more details will come to fore,” he said. “One thing is clear that weapon consignment was obviously to fuel militancy in south Kashmir.”