Sharp rise in Pakistani drones bringing arms & drugs across border into Punjab

The number of drones being sighted in Punjab, coming across the border from Pakistan has seen a significant rise this year.

According to Border Security Force (BSF), as many as 107 drones flying from Pakistan across the border were spotted inside Indian territory till July this year, as compared to 97 drones spotted in the whole of last year.

A senior BSF officer said that these drones are used to deliver narcotics, weapons, explosives and ammunition.

As many as 97 drones coming from across the border were sighted by the BSF in 2021 along the International Border (IB) including 64 such cases in Punjab and 31 in Jammu and two drones were seen entering from the Line of Control (LOC) in Jammu.

In the first 7 months of 2022 till July, as many as 107 drones were sighted along IB that include14 in Jammu and 93 in the Punjab sector and no drone was sighted entering from the LOC in Jammu.

“There are teams with anti-drone guns deployed in borders. The patrolling parties keep watch on any suspicious aerial activity and often they recover narcotics substances and arms delivered from these drones,” he said.

In the year 2021, BSF shot down one drone in the Ferozepur sector while this year seven drones were shot down and a huge quantity of narcotics that was supposed to be delivered through drones was also recovered.

The total length of the Punjab border with Pakistan is 553 kilometres and this along with the 198-km stretch of the India-Pakistan border in the Jammu region is guarded by BSF.

Another BSF officer said that there is no effective anti-drone technology available to shoot down every drone crossing the international border but their men on the ground keep watch on drones or any aerial object crossing the border.

“Not only ground, but we also keep an eye on the sky and BSF personnel are trained to shoot down unidentified UAVs. Sometimes drones fly too high to get detected, we only detect it by humming sound when it comes close to ground,” he said.