The cross-border drug-running syndicate is suspected to have bought off a Border Security Force (BSF) naka checkpost somewhere in Bamial village, which is right on the India-Pakistan border, to push in the six terrorists who sneaked into the Pathankot airbase on January 1.
Although the BSF’s post-attack survey of the border in the Pathankot sector did not indicate a breach of the fencing, intelligence sources disclosed that a particular naka in the unfenced riverine stretch of the boundary was likely paid a hefty amount by the drug-runners.
This is called “naka bikna”, which involves bribing BSF personnel – constables, havildars and at times even a commandant – to ensure that drugs consignments get safe passage into Indian territory. The money involved ranges between Rs 2 to 4 lakh.
Naka Bikna,The Border Payoff
- Drug syndicate likely ‘bought off’ BSF checkpost in Pathankot to make way for terrorists who attacked airbase.
- BSF men at naka in Bamial bribed to let in terrorists who struck Pathankot airbase.
- There was lack of coordination between police, BSF, army when some information on terrorists was available.
- Besides Gurdaspur SP Salwinder Singh, needle of suspicion points to a BSF checkpost which was bought off by cross-border drugs syndicate.
The Drug Mafia Connect
Intelligence sources said that the drugs mafia and their messengers living in border villages use a crude form of the “dead letter drop” to inform the arrival of a drugs consignment. Usually, a chalk mark on a specific tree trunk, a scribble on a wall of a temple or other shrines are known to be some forms of signals the drug runners use in the border villages of Pathankot and Gurdaspur, sources said.
Today, the BSF top brass transferred out some officers posted in Pathankot, though the real reason why they have been shunted out was not revealed.
Even as the unsavoury details of Gurdaspur (Headquarter) Superintendent of Police Salwinder Singh’s activities on the night of December 31, when he is suspected to have inadvertently ended up helping the terrorists’ entry, it is now emerging that the police, the BSF and the army failed to coordinate their act to launch a quick counter-attack on January 1 and 2.
Sources familiar with the investigation into the attack disclosed that on January 1 noon, the Intelligence Bureau intercepted chatter in which an unidentified Pakistani while speaking to his mother over phone boasted that he would soon be martyred.
“This led us to suspect that a fidayeen attack was likely, but IB had no idea at that point in time that the IAF station would be attacked. Officers did not have the foresight,” the sources said.
Vital Hours Lost
It was only around 3:30 pm on January 1 that the IB could determine, after analysing the location of the SP’s jeweller friend Rajesh Verma’s mobile phone (which was being used by the terrorists to call up their Pakistani handlers), that the target was the airbase. Vital hours were lost to quickly figure out the precise target of the attack.
Around the time that the IB intercepted the call, Punjab Police Deputy Inspector General (Border Range) Kunwar Vijay Singh dashed off to meet the army brigade commander but was not allowed entry into the Pathankot cantonment. Again, the brigade commander’s callousness, caused precious time to tick away.
By this time when information that terrorists had already entered India was available, the six heavily armed attackers had already sneaked into the air force station and taken shelter in an abandoned shed of the Military Engineering Service (MES) inside the airbase.
SP Forced to Help?
Intelligence sources suspect that the terrorists, assisted by the drugs mafia, were in plain clothes when they crossed over at a point somewhere in Bamial where the BSF’s 132nd battalion is stationed.
The Gurdaspur SP, who is suspected to have reached the same border point to facilitate the smuggling in of, what he believed would be a narcotics consignment, was forced to bring the terrorists inland. The terrorists may have switched into Indian army uniform once they safely crossed the border, most likely at an unfenced section.
“While his story that his car (with the blue beacon) was waylaid by the terrorists at Kolian village has not been accepted by investigators as true, it is strongly suspected that he either helped the terrorists willingly or was forced to at gun point,” an officer familiar with the NIA’s investigation said.
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