No banned explosives detected in suspicious object along Jammu-Poonch highway: Police

Police officials Monday said no banned explosive material was present in the suspicious object found along the Jammu-Poonch National Highway which was taken for an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and destroyed in a controlled detonation.

A bottle filled with a liquid and a polybag filled with some solid materials were found near Kallar Chowk along the highway by a road opening party (ROP) of the Army in the morning, Rajouri SSP Yougal Manhas said.

"In context to the suspected object found by the ROP on the highway, it is informed that during initial investigation of the matter, it has come to the fore that no banned explosive material was present in the suspicious object," Manhas said.

"It seems that some miscreants placed a suspicious object in a disintegrated form to give it the shape of an IED to create social disorder," he said, adding that further investigation was underway.

Earlier in the day, the officer had said that a major tragedy was averted with timely detection of the suspected IED along the highway which prompted suspension of traffic for nearly one-and-a-half hours.

The Army unit noticed the suspicious material at around 7.30 am and subsequently, the bomb disposal squad destroyed it on the spot.

A team headed by Sub-Inspector and in-charge of the Chingus Chatyari police post M D Khan reached the spot soon after the Army flashed an alert and enforced the closure of traffic on the particular stretch. However, traffic movement resumed at around 10.00 am after the bomb disposal squad completed its action, Manhas said.

He said a probe into the matter has been started with Deputy Superintendent of Police, Headquarters, Govind Rattan personally conducting the investigation.

On May 22, police busted a major militant hideout in the same region (Chatyari forest) and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including four AK assault rifles and 11 pistols.