Personnel on alert as smugglers from Pak use balloons to transport drugs

BALLOONS ARE FITTED WITH L.E.D STRIPS TO HELP SMUGGLERS TRACK DRUGS WHEN THEY ARE DROPPED, OFFICIALS SAID

: Security personnel posted on India-pakistan international border in Punjab are keeping an eye on balloons fitted with LED lights in the backdrop of two recent cases that showed such contraptions being used to drop drugs from across the border, officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday.

The officials added that Pakistani smugglers have adopted the new modus operandi — sending contraband consignments released from small balloons attached to drones flying across the border — to get past tight surveillance on Indian side.

As cases began increasing last year, the Border Security Force (BSF) stepped up vigilance, started using drone jammers, and set up anti-drone hit teams, after which 22 such devices were shot down at the border. To avoid detection and being shot down, the smugglers are now flying drones at higher altitudes (800-900m) and using balloons to drop consignments, an official aware of the details said.

The balloons are fitted with LED strips to help smugglers on Indian side of border track the contraband when it is dropped at night. On March 19, BSF personnel found 3kg heroin tied to two balloons in Sahowal village near the border.

Before this, the first case of four balloons tied to a drone was reported on February 16, when authorities found four deflated balloons along with 2kg heroin near the border fence in Dalla Rajputan village, Amritsar Rural. “The minute a drone enters a specific frequency, it is locked by our jammers and brought down. Now they are flying drones at a higher level and dropping the drugs that are tied to balloon from that height,” said a BSF official. After the method was first detected around mid-2019, 22 drones were shot by the BSF last year and 14 in the first three months of this year so far.