By IANS,
Amritsar : The Border Security Force (BSF) early Wednesday foiled an attempt by Pakistani intruders to smuggle heroin into India, killing one of them in a gunbattle and arresting another near the international border in Punjab, an official said.
While one smuggler managed to escape, another was killed in the gunbattle at Mahwa post near Attari in the Amritsar sector, BSF’s Punjab Frontier Deputy Inspector General Jagir Singh told IANS.
The identity of the slain intruder was being ascertained.
The arrested Pakistani national has been identified as Qazamuddin, BSF Punjab frontier Inspector General of Police Himmat Singh told media here.
He said Qazamuddin, a resident of Karachi in Pakistan, was found in Indian territory during renewed search operations at the shootout spot Wednesday afternoon.
The arrested Pakistani was sent for medical treatment and was being questioned.
Early Wednesday, noticing some activity at the border, a patrol party of the 65th BSF battalion challenged the smugglers, who were across the barbed wire fence but within Indian territory. The smugglers had already thrown three packets of heroin across the fence and wanted to throw more when they were intercepted.
The intruders fired at the BSF patrol which retaliated and killed one of them. Nearly 200 rounds were fired by the border guards on the intruders.
After the ensuing gunbattle, BSF search parties found blood marks indicating that one of the two other smugglers was injured, said Himmat Singh. He added that the blood marks trail went up to the international border with Pakistan.
The BSF troopers recovered four more packets of heroin across the fence. In all, the drugs weighed eight kg, worth several million rupees in the international market.
Two guns were also recovered from the spot along with some ammunition.
The BSF had recovered 13 kg of heroin from the Pul Kanjari area near the Attari border in January this year.
BSF officials said that security along the 553-km-long international border with Pakistan had been enhanced in recent days following more bids to indulge in smuggling across the fence.