With the Centre keeping a close tab on infiltration figures after doubts were raised on inputs provided by the Army in July, the claims of Research and Analysis Wing(RAW) that around 18 terrorists sneaked into the border state in September came under close scrutiny during a high-level meeting here convened by Ministry of Home Affairs
The figures given by the local Army formation and state police were four only while another central security agency claimed that eight people had managed to successfully infiltrate from Machil sector of North Kashmir, official sources said today.
The sources said that going by the tell-tale signs of the movement of militants a consensus emerged that eight terrorists had entered the Valley.
The infiltration figures on previous occasions had come in for a sharp criticism after Director of Intelligence Bureau Nehchal Sandhu announced during the Directors General and Inspectors General of Police Conference last month that infiltration had increased in the state.
This assessment was contested by the J and K police and a thorough enquiry found that the figures provided by Director General of Military Intelligence(DGMI) and Defence Intelligence Agency(DIA) had not been properly verified, the sources said.
Immediately after the conference, state police and home department flagged the issue and sought clarification about the number of terrorists who may have crossed over.
The input provided by DGMI and DIA about infiltration of nearly 24 militants from Uri sector in the month of July could not be substantiated either by the local army unit or state police, the sources said.
Extensive search was launched in nearby areas which was later extended to Hafruda forests in the frontier district of Kupwara, the sources said, adding that Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) were also pressed into service to ascertain the inputs but it could not be corroborated.
After being left red-faced, neither DGMI nor the DIA provided any inputs about infiltration for the month of September.
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