Pakistan use drones to drop drugs, weapons in Indian airspace

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Sunday shooting down of a suspected Pakistani drone, hovering above the border near Amritsar, Punjab, by a prompt Border Security Force (BSF) action was not an isolated incident. Indian security forces guarding the international border in Punjab and J-K have been witnessing many such attempts at infringing on Indian air space in the recent past.

In the last few months, the BSF jawans have been alive to the frequent buzzing sound that points to another drone entering into Indian air space from the Pakistani side.

One such recent previous incident was reported on December 21, when BSF troops shot down a drone that had entered Indian air space from Daoke Border Outpost (BoP) in the Amritsar sector from the Pakistan side on the International Border.

The BSF has shot down a record 16 drones so far, till December first week this year. The force has adopted an anti-drone system and in-depth patrolling to tackle this increasing drone menace. The trans-border drone activities are observed from time to time mainly in Punjab’s Amritsar and Kathua, Samba and Doda in Jammu and Kashmir.

In yet another such incident, on November 26, security personnel fired six rounds from their INSAS rifles and downed a suspected flying object coming from the Pakistani at Daoke Border Outpost (BoP) in the Amritsar sector on India-Pakistan international border.

Later, it was found to be a China-made Quadcopter DJI Matrice 300RTK brand drone, lying in the field near the border. A few cameras were also found fitted on the drone.

In another incident which showed the different uses that such drones are being put to, on October 31, the Jammu and Kashmir Police arrested two persons for their alleged involvement in dropping ammunition through drones in the general area of the Baspur Bangla RS Pura in the union territory, said police. The drone was seen making suspicious movements in the said area on the intervening night of October 27, and October 28 an official statement read.

On November 28, women personnel of the BSF shot down a Hexacopter drone weighing 18.050 kg near Chaharpur village in Amritsar (Rural) district in Punjab when it was entering Indian territory from Pakistan. This time the drones were found to be carrying 3.110 kg of narcotics.

As per a document accessed by the ANI, security forces from January 2022 to September 2022 observed the illegal entry of 191 drones into Indian territory from neighbouring Pakistan, raising major concerns in terms of internal security in the country.

Of the 191 drones observed, 171 entered into Indian territory through the India-Pakistan border along the Punjab sector while 20 were seen in the Jammu sector, the document mentions further.

The documents further reveal that most of these drones or UAVs managed to flee while a total of seven have been shot down by the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel. The seven drones shot down this year between January 1 to September 15 were observed in Punjab’s Amritsar, Ferozpur and Abohar regions.

As per inputs, the first drone was shot down by the BSF on January 18 in Punjab’s Amritsar near Havelian Border Out Post (BoP). The BSF personnel on February 13 again shot down another drone soon after it entered Indian territory and was observed near CB Chand BoP in Amritsar. The BSF personnel also shot down two drones on March 7 and March 9 in Ferozpur’s TJ Singh and Amritsar’s Havelian BoPs respectively.

On April 29, the BSF personnel shot down a drone near Pulmoran BoP in Amritsar. The BSF personnel also shot down another drone on May 8 when it was observed near Bharopal BoP in Amritsar. The last drone shot down by the BSF personnel was observed on June 26 near Jhanger BoP in the Abohar region of Punjab.

Officials in the BSF told ANI that drones are being used by Pakistan’s side to transport weapons, explosives and narcotics across the international border in Jammu and Punjab from Pakistan.

The increased drone activity across the border was brought to the notice of Home Minister Amit Shah in the security review meeting in Srinagar recently with top security and intelligence chiefs in attendance. While BSF believes that it has been able to repel drones carrying arms, ammunition and explosives from Pakistan, the state police and the intelligence agencies differ with this assessment.

The security forces have seized various AK series assault rifles, pistols, MP4 carbines, carbine magazines, high explosive grenades as well as narcotics which were transported into Indian territory from Pakistan from the drones shot down so far.

As per security agencies, BSF intelligence inputs and Jammu and Kashmir Police officials, the drones are also used to drop packets of Afghan heroin for financing terror operations in the Valley and Punjab.

It is learnt that the group behind the transportation of weapons, explosives and drugs is Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and other terror outfits which have camps across the International Boundary and are backed by ISI.

The Home Ministry is learnt to have directed the concerned agencies to find out a solution to stop drone activities and meanwhile security agencies and law enforcement forces are asked to keep a special watch on such movements.

Indian Army has resorted to innovative methods to deal with this increasing drone menace. In a first, the Indian Army has trained kites to prey on enemy drones and they were shown in action during a joint training exercise Yuddh Abhyas of India and US in Uttarakhand’s Auli. (ANI)