BSF detects underground tunnel along International Border in Jammu

A cross-border tunnel — around 150-metre-long and 30-foot-deep — was unearthed by the Border Security Forces along the International Border in Jammu on January 23, the fourth such tunnel found in the past six months.

A BSF spokesman said the tunnel was detected in Jammu’s Pansar area following specific intelligence inputs and was opening up near a fence erected by the BSF “to push trained and armed militants”.

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"As part of a tunnel detection drive (along the border) on Saturday (January 23) morning, the BSF detected the tunnel between Border Post Number 14 and 15," the spokesman said.

The BSF said Pakistan border outposts, identified as Abhiyal Dogra and Kingre-de-kothe in Sakargarh district, are located opposite to the area where the tunnel was dug up. “The tunnel is 150 metres long and 30 feet deep in size. The BSF troops had to dig it out,” the BSF said.

The BSF had also shot down a Pakistani hexacopter (drone) carrying loads of weapons and ammunition in June 2020 around the same spot. “An infiltration bid was also foiled in November 2019 in the same area,” the BSF said.

A tunnel — around 150-metre-long, 15 to 20-foot-deep and 3-foot-wide — was detected on November 22, 2020. On January 13, another such tunnel — around 30-foot-deep and 150-metre-long — was spotted in Jammu's Samba district.

The tunnel unearthed on January 23 is the fourth such tunnel busted in the last six months in Jammu's Samba, Hiranagar and Kathua areas. “Around 10 such tunnels were unearthed in Jammu region in the past one year,” officials said.