Ammunition cache found dumped in canal in Pathankot

Pathankot: A cache of ammunition was today found dumped in UBD canal at Malikpur in the district which is on high alert since the attack on the airbase earlier this month.

A few boys, who were taking bath in the Upper Bari Doab canal here, accidentally found the ammunition, police said.

"As the water level was low, the boys discovered the ammunition lying at the bottom of the canal and then they raised an alarm," Pathankot DSP (Rural) Kuldeep Singh said.

Two magazines along with 59 live cartridges of AK-47 rifle, two magazines and 29 live cartridges of INSAS rifle and 16 rounds and two shells of .315 rifle were recovered, he said.

The investigations are underway, the DSP said. Security had already been stepped up here and surrounding areas following a terror attack at Pathankot Airforce station on January 2 in which seven security personnel were killed.

Few days back, Punjab police had arrested a resident of Madhya Pradesh from a railway station here and recovered a country-made pistol along with two live cartridges.

On January 28, a 25-year-old Afghan national was caught by railway police for travelling without ticket at Pathankot Cantt railway station here.