Infiltration attempt?: Underground tunnel discovered between AJK, Indian Kashmir
Secret gateway found after soil caved in Indian Kashmir’s Samba district.
A 400-metre long tunnel running between India and Pakistan was discovered by authorities on Sunday along the de facto border in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Samba district.
“We have discovered a tunnel running between Pakistan and India in Samba district,” the Press Trust of India quoted Israr Khan, the Senior Superintendent of Police in Samba, as saying.
The mysterious tunnel, the construction of which has not been attributed to anyone yet, was detected after the soil in an area near the Indian Border Security Force’s Chillayari outpost caved in at three separate points after rains.
“After the collapse, the area was dug out to determine why. But the authorities were surprised to find a tunnel,” the SSP said.
The tunnel, with a height and width of three feet, was running between Indian Kashmir’s Chillayari border outpost and Azad Kashmir’s Lambriyal border outpost, he said.
Dug at a depth of 25 feet below ground level, it was 400 metres long on the Indian side and appeared to be freshly constructed, the SSP said. “We are confirming whether the tunnel is operational or not.”
The police official said a local villager, Baldev Singh, working in the fields had observed the cave in and reported the matter to the BSF on finding the plastic pipe on Friday evening.
“A well planned tunnel was found on the border, which reportedly opens on other side of the border at Lambriyal post of Pakistan,” he added.
“The BSF men are on the job and during digging they also recovered some oxygen pipes from the tunnel.”
The Pakistani post is around 500 metres from the Chillayari post. “There is thick vegetation in that area and we cannot notice the activities going on across the fence,” an Indian Kashmir official said.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 29th, 2012.