Jammu, Aug 31 (PTI) The BSF on Monday lodged a "strong protest" with Pakistan rangers over the detection of a cross-border tunnel along the international border in Samba sector of Jammu and Kashmir, an official said.

A protest note with evidence was also handed over to Pakistani authorities during a meeting at Octroi Border Out Post (BoP) along IB in R S Pura sector of Jammu district, sources said.

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"The BSF lodged a strong with its counterpart Pakistan Rangers over the detection of a tunnel along the International Border (IB) in Samba sector of Jammu and Kashmir," a senior BSF official told PTI here.

During a flag meeting at the Octroi BoP, BSF authorities also showed pictorial evidence of the tunnel to the Pakistan Rangers.

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The tunnel, which is about 50 metres from the border fence on the Indian side, was located in the Galar area of Samba sector in Jammu on Thursday. It was found stuffed with 8-10 plastic sandbags in the mouth to avoid detection, officials said.

The plastic bags had "Pakistani markings" on them, they said.

BSF troops got suspicious after noticing the sinking of the earth at some places in a farmer's field due to recent incessant rains, they said.

An earth-moving machine was immediately pressed into service to completely unearth the tunnel that is about 170 metres from the IB on the Indian side, the official said. Spot inspection revealed that the tunnel was under-construction and about 20 feet long, officials said.

The tunnel, as per sources, has a depth of about 25 feet at the opening and is located near the 'whaleback' border post of the BSF.

BSF Inspector General (Jammu) N S Jamwal also visited the spot to oversee the operation, they said.

The green-coloured plastic bags have markings of 'Karachi and Shakargarh' factories on them and the bags have a manufacturing and expiry date embossed that indicate they have been manufactured recently, officials said.

The nearest Pakistani border post 'Gulzar' is about 700 metres from the tunnel, they said.

The border guarding force has launched a major search operation in the area to look for other such hidden structures that aid infiltration. It was also analysing the about 3-4 feet wide structure that could be used for pushing terrorists and smuggling of narcotics and arms, the officials said.

The BSF pointed at the "deep connivance" of Pakistan in aiding infiltration along this front.

"With this detection, the alert BSF troops foiled the nefarious design of Pakistan to infiltrate terrorists into Indian territory. The tunnel's origin is in Pakistan territory close to IB," the Jammu frontier of the force said in a statement.

"Efforts of alert BSF troops deployed in our multi-tiered counter-infiltration grid once again resulted in neutralising the evil designs of terrorists in deep connivance with Pak establishments," it said.

"There have been regular inputs about the presence of terrorists in Pak border villages desperately looking for infiltration into the Indian territory but vigilant BSF troops foiled desperate attempts of anti-national elements to infiltrate and carry out terrorist actions in India," it said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)