Three drones sighted in 2 days; BSF, cops on toes
Unmanned aerial vehicles were spotted near the India-pakistan border in Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts on Friday and Saturday
AMRITSAR: Three incidents of drone flying were reported near the India-pakistan border in Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts in a row between Friday and Saturday, prompting the Punjab police and border security force to launch search operations and raising fears of security threat following recent attempts of smuggling of arms and ammunition using drones from across the border.
A buzzing sound of the drone was heard in Muhawa village of Amritsar on Friday. When the drone came to the attention of BSF personnel on duty along the border, they opened fire to bring it down. However, it moved towards Attari village where it was captured by an 11-year-old boy on his mobile phone.
In another incident, a drone was found in a field in Sarangra village of Amritsar on Friday night. The owner of the farm, Samsher Singh, who is also the village’s sarpanch, informed the police immediately after it was found.
“The drone was found when Samsher Singh was harvesting his wheat crop. It is yet to be ascertained whether the drone was used for smuggling of drugs or weapons from across the border. We have sent the drone for its forensic examination, the report of which will come within the next four
days,” said deputy superintendent of police, Attari, Balbir Singh.
He said they have registered a case against unidentified persons under the relevant Sections of the Aircraft Act.
The third incident was reported near the Adian border outpost (BOP) in Gurdaspur district on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. BSF sources said the drone’s buzzing sound was heard at
least four times and the personnel fired around 160 rounds to stop its movement.
BSF’S deputy inspector general (DIG) Prabhakar Joshi said, “Our jawans had opened several shots towards the drone near Adian BOP, but it managed to retreat. We searched the area for several hours, but nothing suspicious was found.”
Search operations were launched by the BSF and the Punjab Police officials in the area near the Adian BOP, Muhawa, Attari and Sarangra villages following the drone flying incidents but nothing suspicious was found. The officials of the two security agencies also conducted a joint meeting in Gurdaspur.
The back-to-back incidents of drone flying were reported a day after the BSF announced a reward price of Rs 1 lakh for giving information about the movement of drones along the border.
Punjab governor Banwari Lal Purohit last week visited various border districts in Punjab and held a series of meetings with the security agencies of Center and the state government particularly to tackle the drone threat.
Pakistan has been using drones to smuggle arms, ammunition and drugs into the Indian territory. On April 17, Tarn Taran district police had busted a module using drones for the smuggling of heroin from across the border.
4kg heroin recovered
The BSF claimed the recovery of 4 kg heroin in two separate operations in the Amritsar sector on Saturday.
“While carrying out area domination patrol ahead of the border security fence in the area of Amritsar sector, a packet of contraband items suspected to be heroin weighing around 1 kg wrapped in white adhesive tape was recovered,” a BSF spokesperson said.
“In another incident, during search in the area of Amritsar sector, the BSF troopers recovered 12 packets of contraband items suspected to be heroin weighing around 3 kg and wrapped in yellow adhesive tape. The vigilant troops had once again foiled the nefarious attempts of the anti-national elements to smuggle the contraband,” the officials said.