A suspected Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was recovered along the highway in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, officials said.
They said that a suspicious wooden box having a pressure cooker inside and wires tied to it was found in a drain in Manjkote area along the Jammu-Poonch highway this morning by the police.
They said the area was sealed and a bomb disposal squad was summoned to the spot.
“We have sealed the area and experts have been called in. It is a suspicious object,” said a senior police officer.
Another official said that a bomb disposal squad of both army and police were called in after which the suspected object was removed from the highway stretch and was thrown in a nearby river gorge where it was destroyed through a controlled explosion.
“It is a matter of concern as the suspected explosive material was found lying on a busy national highway over which hundreds of vehicles ply on a daily basis,” said the official.
They further said that the site where suspected material was found is a few hundred meters away from an army camp.
Senior Superintendent of Police Rajouri Chandan Kohli said that on Wednesday morning, a Road Opening Patrol (ROP) of the army found a suspicious object along the highway near Manjakote.
Soon, traffic was controlled on the highway and a Bomb Disposal Squad was called in, SSP said.
The suspected material packed in a fruit packing box has been destroyed through a controlled explosion, he said.
Further investigation is going on and a case under relevant sections of law has been registered at Manjakote police station, SSP further said.