8 drone sorties dropped 80kg arms in Tarn Taran
Unmanned aerial vehicles may have been launched from locations 2km inside Pak, reveals probe; payload was slung from platform using Chinese mountaineering ropes
NEW DELHI : At least eight drone sorties, carrying a total of 80 kg of weapons (arms and ammunition), were sent across the border into Punjab by Pakistanbased Khalistani terror groups between September 9 and 16, officials in security agencies and the Punjab Police have confirmed on condition of anonymity.
The entire consignment, using the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) network, was supported by Pakistan’s spy agency Inter Services Intelligence and orchestrated through Germany and Lahore; the ultimate aim — to fuel terror attacks in Jammu & Kashmir.
The details of these drops have emerged following investigations of the September 22 weapons seizure at Tarn Taran district. Eight payloads were dropped in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts.
The investigation involving Punjab Police, central security agencies, Border Security Force, Indian Air Force has prima facie found that multiple Chinese commercial drones with 10kg payloads have been used to drop weapons across the border. The drones, the investigation reveals, may have been launched from locations 2km inside Pakistan and made to travel the distance of 5km at a height of 2,000 feet, and then dropped off the weapons after descending to 1200 ft. The payload was slung from the platform using Chinese mountaineering ropes.
With drone activity also being seen in Punjab’s Ferozepur district, the IAF and BSF have been asked by Punjab Police to intercept these unmanned aerial vehicles through low-level radars and destroy them. Officials fear that they could also be used to carry and drop off bombs.
The interrogation of those arrested has revealed that KZF’S Germany-based operative Gurmeet Singh Bagga in coordination with his Pakistanbased chief Ranjeet Singh aka Neeta have made deliveries of at least four weapons, grenades, electronics, and fake currency through drones.
The deliveries were made on the intervening nights of Sept 6/7, 9/10 and the last one on 15/16. The last drone crashed in a Tarn Taran village near a border drain which is 2km from the fencing on the international border with Pakistan. The entire operation came to light after the discovery of the burnt drone, whose eight Chinese batteries were stripped off by the accused on instructions from across the border. “It has also been revealed that such deliveries took place on four different dates, mostly between 9.30pm and 10.30pm with the drone making two sorties within an hour,” said a senior Punjab Police official.
The main concern of Indian security agencies is the revelation that entire consignment was meant for Islamist groups in Kashmir. “We are not very clear as to how many other consignments has made their way into Kashmir using similar modus operandi and with the help of Pakistan-based Sikh terrorists,” said a senior security official.
PROBE REVEALS THAT THE CONSIGNMENTS WERE DROPPED ON THE INDIAN SOIL ON THE INTERVENING NIGHTS OF SEPT 6/7, 9/10
AND ON 15/16