Stolen LMG recovered in Punjab; BSF trooper on the run

Jalandhar, July 26 (IANS) Security agencies have recovered a light machine gun (LMG), which was stolen by a BSF trooper from a forward post in Jammu sector, from a house in this Punjab city on Tuesday, officials said.

BSF and Punjab Police personnel cordoned off the area near a house in Khurla Kingra area of Jalandhar on Tuesday and recovered the LMG and large amount of ammunition from there.

However, the Border Security Force (BSF) trooper, Rajeev Ranjan from Bihar's Darbhanga, escaped from the house before the place was raided by the security forces, leaving behind the weapon and ammunition.

Police have arrested an associate of the fugitive BSF trooper in whose house the later had stayed for two days after stealing the sophisticated weapon.

The LMG was stolen by Ranjan from a forward post in the Akhnoor sector of neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday.

Police sources said that a hunt has been launched to nab the runaway BSF trooper.