BSF shoots down Pakistani drone near international border in Amritsar

Chandigarh, June 8

Border Security Force (BSF) personnel have shot down a Pakistani drone near the international border in Amritsar after it sneaked into the Indian territory, a spokesperson said on Thursday.

In a separate development, troops of the border guarding force seized more than 2 kg of heroin airdropped by another Pakistani drone in Tarn Taran district, the official said.

Around 9 pm on Wednesday, BSF personnel heard the buzzing sound of an unmanned aerial vehicle near Bhaini Rajputana village in Amritsar and opened fire on it, the spokesperson of the force said.

A joint search operation by the BSF and Punjab Police was carried out, during which the drone was found in a damaged condition on a field adjacent to the Rajatal-Bharopal-Daoke tri-junction on the outskirts of the village, he said.

The recovered drone was a quadcopter of model DJI Matrice 300RTK series, the official added.

In Tarn Tara, BSF personnel detected the drone coming from the Pakistani side around the same time on Wednesday near Wan village and intercepted it, the spokesperson said.

After a while, the troops spotted a suspicious motorcycle coming from Wan and signalled it to stop. Its rider, however, sped away towards Mari Kamboke village. The BSF troops chased the bike and found it abandoned in the village, he said.

The village was cordoned off and during a search, a packet wrapped in a yellow adhesive tape was found, the spokesperson added.

The packet was found to be a consignment of heroin weighing around 2.5 kg. It is suspected that the bike rider was carrying the packet after it was dropped off by the drone.