New Delhi: An Indian army soldier was arrested on Monday at Jammu and Kashmir’s (J & K) Srinagar airport after two live grenades were found in his baggage.
According to police, Bhupal Mukhiya of 17 JAK Rifles was about to take a chartered flight to Delhi when a baggage check revealed the grenades.
He was jointly interrogated by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and police.
Mukhiya serves near the Line of Control (LoC) in the Uri sector of Kashmir.
He hails from Darjeeling in West Bengal.
During interrogation, he told the security forces that he was directed by one “Major Sahib” to take the grenades to Delhi.
“We are still interrogating the jawan. We are not taking his claim at face value. He said he was directed by some Major Sahib to carry the live grenades to New Delhi where some person would pick up the consignment. He was about to board the flight. We have detained and lodged him at the local Humhama police station for questioning,” sources in J & K police informed Gulf News.
Asked whether it was a hijacking attempt, the sources said the motive of carrying live grenades in the flight was still not clear.
J & K Director General of Police (DGP) S.P. Vaid said the jawan will face action as per the law.
“He will face action according to the law. Be it an army jawan, a policeman or a civilian, everyone will have to face action for such an act. I do not have more details yet. I am going to the airport and will get the details. We are investigating. We have sent our team to the police station. The grenade the jawan was carrying is Grenade 90. It is mostly used for exercises. The jawan’s explanation is that he was carrying it to kill fish,” Vaid told media.
The arrest comes a day after the visit by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, who inaugurated the Chenani-Nashri tunnel near Udhampur in Jammu. Minutes after the inauguration, a policeman was killed and 14 security personnel injured in a grenade attack by militants in Srinagar.
Meanwhile, reacting to the arrest, former J & K Chief Minister (CM) Omar Abdullah said that the case “tells a wider story of the problem of unaccounted weapons & ammunition.”
“Not something one would usually forget to unpack before boarding a flight. There is more to it,” Abdullah tweeted.
As many as 19 soldiers were killed last year in September in the Uri sector of Kashmir when Pakistani militants struck an army camp.
On September 29, a military confrontation between India and Pakistan began.
India conducted surgical strikes against militant launch pads across LoC in Pakistan-administerd Kashmir and inflicted significant casualties.
