Package suspected to be dropped by drone found in J-K’s Samba

Samba/Jammu, 3 April, In Samba area of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, police discovered a cache of weapons and explosives in a package they believe, it was airdropped there by a drone from the other side of the international border, according to officials.

The package — found early on Monday near the railway line in Rakh Barotiya contained, among others, three China-made pistols and grenades, they said.

Additional Superintendent of Police (Samba) Surinder Choudhary told reporters, “We received information about a suspected package lying in the fields of Rakh Barotiya in the Vijaypur belt. We immediately rushed police, bomb disposal squad and FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) teams to the spot.

The police have cordoned off the area and dispatched a bomb disposal team, they said. According to the sources, the police suspect that the package was dropped by a drone from across the border. In recent months, several incidents of weapons, narcotics, cash, and explosive materials being airdropped by drones suspected of being from across the international border have been reported in the Union Territory’s Samba, Kathua, and Jammu districts. According to the cops “A blast occurred in the rear of a Honda city vehicle numbered JK01M 0878 on the Boulevard road,” a police official said, adding that a couple, Hafizullah Bhat and his wife, residents of Kralsangri, Nishat, were in the vehicle at the time but both are safe. According to the police, the blast appears to have been caused by equipment failure.