Jammu, Sep 13 : A terrorist associate was apprehended with arms & ammunition on Friday in J&K's Poonch district.

Officials said that the terrorist associate was held with arms in a joint operation by the police and security forces in the Surankote area of Poonch district.

'A joint 'Naka' (Checkpost) of police, army's 16 Rashtriya Rifles and 38 battalions of CRPF was laid at Potha Bypass. During searches, the security personnel noticed a person coming from Surankote towards Potha in a suspicious manner. The suspect tried to escape after seeing the security forces, but was apprehended,' the officials added.

A blue bag containing 36 hand grenades, explosive substance and other incriminating material was also recovered from his possession.

'The suspect was identified as Mohd Shabir, son of Mohd Farooq, a resident of Daryala Nowshera in Rajouri district. He was in touch with a POK handler namely Azim Khan @ Mudeer who directed him to collect this consignment from Surankote town. Police have taken cognisance and more arrests are expected,' the officials stated.

Parts of the Poonch and Rajouri districts will go to polls in the first phase of the J&K elections on September 18. Eight Assembly segments spread across Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts in the Chenab valley region along with 16 seats in the south Kashmir districts of Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam are going to polls in the first phase.

Security forces are maintaining a heightened vigil as aerial platforms are also being used to monitor criminal activities.

Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts will vote in the second and third phases of J&K elections on September 25 and October 1.

Hilly districts of Poonch, Rajouri, Doda, Kathua, Reasi and Udhampur in the Jammu division have witnessed terrorist ambush attacks against the army, security forces and civilians during the last over two months.

After reports that a group of hardcore foreign terrorists, believed to be 40 to 50 in number, are responsible for these attacks, the army deployed over 4,000 trained soldiers drawn from the elite Para commandos and those trained in mountain warfare inside the densely forested areas of those districts.

Terrorists used an element of surprise to carry out ambush attacks and then disappear into the forests of these hilly areas.

The deployment of the army and the CRPF together with the strengthening of the village defence committees (VDCs) managed by local residents, has prevented the terrorists from using the element of surprise to carry out such attacks.

After the security forces started aggressively going after the terrorists both in the Jammu division and the Kashmir Valley, terrorists are now increasingly being engaged in exchange of firing with the security forces.

'They either get killed during such encounters or remain on the run. This prevents them from surprising the security forces by carrying out sly attacks,' a senior police officer said.

/IANS