They have been identified as Ali Bhutto, Abdul Hameed Khatib, Rehmat Ullah, Ali Hassan, Abdul Rashid, Abdullah Ahmed Pa, Ghulam Hassan Mir Malik and Mohammad Ali Akhoon Pa (all residents) of village Turtuk, besides Ali Hussain of Tyakshi and Ghulam Mohammad of Chermopa.

Eleven AK rifles and one pistol along with ammunition, two hand grenades, besides huge quntity of explosives and detonators were recovered from them.

Their arrests followed intelligence information that Pakistan had trained a number of people in border areas of Leh district and provided them weapons for causing disturbances.

Based on the intelligence information, sources said the police arrested Ali Bhutto andafter his sustained interrogation, he led to the recovery of two AK rifles and one pistol. He also disclosed the names of nine other people, who were apprehended along with arms and ammunition later on.

Sources said a number of them were acting as porters for the Indian army. However, their interrogation was going on to find out as to how many of them had gone to Pakistan occupied Kashmir for arms training.

These recoveries were shown to Governor G C Saxena and Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah, when they visited Diksit police station along with the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police on Monday. Appreciating the good work done by the police in such a remote area of the state, the Chief Minister gave a cash reward of Rs 50,000 on the spot to the police personnel for their commendable job.