The operation came a day after police busted a major narcotics smuggling module in which 17 people including five policemen were arrested in the Kupwara district

New Delhi: There is huge desperation on the Pakistani side to either infiltrate terrorists or smuggle war-like stores into Kashmir as the number of ultras and arms and ammunition was at an all-time low in the Valley, a senior Army official said on Friday.

He said such manoeuvres were seen when the situation was near normal in Kashmir.

General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Army’s 19 Infantry Division Major General Ajay Chandpuria made these remarks while addressing reporters in Baramulla after security forces recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition near the Line of Control (LoC) in the Halanga area of Uri in the north Kashmir district.

Security forces have recovered a huge cache of illegal arms and ammunition in the general area of Hathlanga Sector of Uri in north Kashmir's Baramulla district.

"The war-like stores seized included eight AK-74 rifles with 24 magazines, 560 live rifle rounds, 12 Chinese pistols with 24 magazines, 224 live pistols rounds, 14 Pakistan and Chinese grenades along with 81 balloons with Pakistan flag were recovered," news agency ANI quoted Colonel Manish Punj as saying on Sunday.

A case has been registered at Uri police station and an investigation is underway.

The operation came a day after police busted a major narcotics smuggling module in which 17 people including five policemen were arrested in the Kupwara district. "In one of its biggest successes against drug smuggling and peddling in the district, Police has arrested 17 persons, including five policemen, a political activist, a contractor and a shopkeeper from different areas of the districts of Kupwara and Baramulla, unearthing another narcotics smuggling module originating from Pakistan," a police spokesman told PTI.

During the current year, 85 cases have been registered against 161 persons in the district. Thirty-three people involved in narcotics smuggling have been detained and lodged in different jails under PSA (PIT-NDPS Act), the spokesman added.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur had said that "terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir decreased by 168 per cent" since the Modi government came to power.

Underlining that the Modi government has a "zero tolerance policy towards terrorism," Thakur said, "the government undertook decisive actions which yielded definitive results."

"Surgical strikes in 2016 were in response to the Uri attack. Balakot Air strikes in 2019 were in response to the Pulwama bombing, so all these decisive actions yielded definitive results," he told reporters here.

"Terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir have reduced by 168 per cent under the Modi government and the conviction rate in terror financing cases is over 94 per cent," he said.