Terror alert has Pathankot police, Army in overdrive
The search operation underway near the Pathankot air base on Tuesday. Tribune photo
Ravi Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service
Pathankot, March 14
The district police in collaboration with the Air Force and the Army today conducted a massive search operation both inside and outside the Pathankot air base after they received a terror input from the Intelligence Bureau (IB).
SWAT teams have also been pressed into service and security in the adjoining district of Gurdaspur has been tightened.
Gurdaspur SSP Jasdeep Singh ordered the setting up of check posts on the Pathankot-Amritsar road via Dinanagar and Gurdaspur.
Sources at the Air Force station say that after the IB alert, fighter jets and other high value assets were the first things to be secured. “They are being protected as per norms. Beyond this, we can’t disclose anything,” said a spokesman.
Pathankot SSP Nilambari Jagadale Vijay was leading the search outside the premises. Inside the air base the IAF has deployed special guards. More than 8,000 employees reside inside the complex.
Shops on the Dhaki road too were searched. Dhaki road market is a heavily populated area located in front of the main gate of the air base. The flyover on the Pathankot-Jalandhar road gives a bird’s eye view of the activities inside the base. “We have marked the flyover as hypersensitive,” said the SSP.
Search operation at various locations near the air base was still on.