On Monday, an Indian soldier was caught at the Srinagar airport in Jammu and Kashmir with two hand grenades. The soldier was arrested after the two grenades were found in his baggage. Gopal Mukhiya, a jawan of the 17 JAK Rifles is positioned at the Uri Sector near the Line of Control (LoC.)
The police revealed that the soldier was set to take a chartered flight to New Delhi. They also said that the jawan said the grenades were handed to him by his officer. A Police officer said that they were investigating as to where the grenade came from and said, “We are not taking his claim at face value and we are investigating based on evidence.”
J&K: Army jawan carrying 2 grenades arrested by police at Srinagar airport. More details awaited. pic.twitter.com/VUPrZAOxE0
— ANI (@ANI_news) April 3, 2017
With multiple checkpoints, the Srinagar airport is one of the most heavily guarded airports in India. There is no checking for the Army at the entry gates, which was how the soldier passed in without detection until the baggage checking point. The police said that the soldier is from West Bengal’s Darjeeling.
The incident occurred a day after PM Modi’s visit to J&K for India’s longest all-weather tunnel inauguration. A few hours after the arrest, a grenade attack by militants in Srinagar killed a policeman and injured more than 14 security personnel.
