Punjab sees 10 drone intrusions in a month, only one shot down
BSF has seized 40kg of heroin, 7 pistols along with ammo this year
The anti-national elements have reduced the time of the movement of drones in Indian territory making it difficult to shoot them down.
AK VIDYARTHI, DIG (BSF)
AMRITSAR : As many as 10 incidents of drone intrusion into the Indian territory at the Punjab border with Pakistan have been reported in the past month, with Border Security Force (BSF) troops managing to capture only one.
According to BSF officials, the anti-national elements have reduced the timing of the movement of drones into Indian territory in the recent past, making it difficult for the jawans to shoot them down.
“The time of movement of drones into the Indian territory has drastically decreased in the past few weeks, due to which we are facing problems in downing them,” said AK Vidyarthi, deputy inspector general (DIG).
According to BSF, from March 19 to April 15, 10 incidents were reported in which the drones sneaked into the Indian territory from the Pakistan side, dropping their consignment of arms and drugs. Out of the total incidents, one black-coloured drone (quadcopter-DJI Matrice) was captured in Rajatal village of Amritsar district on March 27.
Incidentally, March 27 was also the busiest for the BSF troops. The security personnel apprehended two suspects along with the recovery of a drone, a pistol and 10kg of heroin in four separate incidents reported along the India-Pakistan border.
Three incidents were related to the intrusion of drones in the Amritsar sector. In the fourth incident in the Fazilka district, two Pakistani intruders had allegedly retreated after throwing a packet of drugs and weapons consignments into the Indian territory.
In total, BSF seized around 40 kg of heroin and seven pistols allegedly dropped by the drones in these 10 reported incidents.
BSF officials said this year, its troops have noticed around 23 intrusions of drones into Indian territory. From January 1 to March 18, around 13 incidents of drone intrusions were reported, out of which it managed to shoot down drones on seven occasions.
However, the rate of shooting down drones has drastically come down in the last month.
Anti-drone technology
BSF has been running a trial of an anti-drone technology for the last one-and-a-half-year, but this technology, as per its officials, works at a particular frequency and has not been found to be effective.
A senior BSF official, who did not wish to be named, said, “The drones which have been captured were shot down by our jawans, who have been given special training. The technology we are using is not very much effective. Pakistan-based smugglers are very shrewd and are working in collusion with the country’s intelligence agency (ISI) and China. Most of the drones being used by Pakistani smugglers are assembled. They are not using drones made by companies, which have fixed frequencies. The possibility of these assembled drones, which fly at varying frequencies, being detected in our anti-drone technology is very less. We need an effective anti-drone technology to tackle the threat.”
Eight drones shot down this year
This year, the BSF has captured eight drones in total. Last year, BSF shot down 23 drones used for smuggling drugs, arms, ammunition and explosives from across the border.
Last year, besides announcing ₹50,000 reward to the ‘drone hitting party’ and ₹1 lakh to the informers, the BSF took several measures to tackle the drone threats at the Punjab border.
Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit had also conducted back-to-back visits at the Punjab border and asked the security agencies to increase their coordination to tackle the drone threats.
According to a senior BSF official, who didn’t wish to be named, due to the absence of an ‘effective anti-drone technology’, most of the drones manage to retreat, either after dropping consignment or reconnaissance.
“Many times, our jawans rely on the buzzing sound of the drone. They open fire towards the sound, but chances of them hitting the intended target are very low as drones can’t be seen in the dark,” he said.
3kg heroin seized at border in Amritsar
The BSF troopers recovered 3kg of heroin dropped by a Pakistani drone near Dhanoe Kalan village in Amritsar on Saturday night.
The BSF jawans opened fire towards the drone, which had sneaked into the Indian territory from the Pakistan side, but it had managed to retreat after dropping the consignment.