“We conducted a search operation in 28 villages, starting 5 am for five hours. We asked people if they had seen any person or suspect who is not from their village. They said they have not seen anyone,” Pathankot SSP Rakesh Kaushal said.
Led by the Pathankot SSP, 300 policemen, including two SP-rank officers, conducted search operations in villages such as Dhira, Tajpur, Akalgarh and Chonga near the Pathankot airforce base.
The search team also comprised highly trained and specially equipped Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) commandoes. The police also inspected security outside the Pathankot airbase and found that everything to be safe.
“Everything is safe there,” said Kaushal, adding that the airforce was also secured by its own Garud commandoes.
Search operations were also carried in areas inhabited by ‘Gujjars’, officials said. “We found nothing suspicious,” said the SSP. He, however, said that security had been intensified in the border district, which had witnessed a terror attack at the airforce base in January.