Early Monday morning, a Pakistani drone was detected close to the International Border in Gurdaspur, Punjab. According to news agency ANI, the Border Security Force (BSF) forces opened fire on the drone numerous times as it flew back towards the Pakistani side.
At approximately five in the morning, a BSF Rosa Post BOP 89 Bn in Gurdaspur, Punjab, reported seeing a drone close to the International Border.
Both the BSF and the police are conducting a search operation.
This was the third occurrence of its kind in recent memory. Compared to the Jammu region, incidents of drones being observed in Punjab and arriving from Pakistan have increased significantly this year.
According to the BSF, 107 drones flying from across the border have been sighted inside Indian territory as of July this year, up from 97 drones last year. In the previous year, 64 incidents were reported in Punjab, 31 in Jammu, and two were observed crossing the Line of Control in Jammu. Until July of this year, there were 107 similar events, with 14 occurring in Jammu and 93 in the Punjab area.
According to a senior BSF officer, Pakistani drones are typically used to transport drugs, guns, explosives, and ammunition.
“Teams with anti-drone weapons are stationed at borders. The patrolling groups keep an eye out for any strange airborne activity, and they frequently find drugs and weapons sent from these drones,” he said.
In contrast to the one drone that the BSF took down in the Ferozpur area in 2021, seven drones were shot down this year, and a significant amount of drugs were seized.
The BSF is responsible for policing the 198 km of the India-Pakistan border in the Jammu area, which is part of Punjab’s 553 km long frontier with Pakistan.
Another BSF official stated that although there is no effective anti-drone gear available to fire down every border drone crossing, the soldiers on the ground keep an eye out for drones or any other aerial object doing so.
Sometimes drones fly too high to be spotted; we only notice them by their humming sound near the ground, he added. “Not only ground, but we also keep a watch on the sky, and BSF men are trained to fire down strange UAVs,” he said.
