RPG recoveries highlight dangerous escalation in arms smuggling, attempt to destabilise region: Security officials

The smuggling of rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) into Punjab from Pakistan has raised concern in the security circles as the lethal weapons are being used in targeted attacks against the police and other sensitive establishments in the state.

In the latest seizure, the Amritsar rural police nabbed two persons suspected of cross-border smuggling with a RPG launcher two days ago, which they believe had been smuggled from Pakistan via drones two days earlier.

According to senior officials, these consignments are often pushed across the border using drones or concealed land routes, intended for use by sleeper cells controlled by handlers based in Pakistan.

“The repeated recovery of RPGs and explosives points to a deliberate attempt by Pakistan’s ISI to arm terror modules with sophisticated weaponry,” a police officer posted in the intelligence wing said on the condition of anonymity.

“This is a dangerous escalation in cross-border arms smuggling by ISI backed narco-terror modules,” a senior police officer said. “These weapons are not random finds — they reflect a sustained attempt to arm radical and criminal elements to destabilise the region,” he added.

Punjab has witnessed several RPG-related incidents in recent years, underscoring the threat posed by such smuggling. On May 10, 2022, a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the Punjab Police Intelligence Headquarters in Mohali, marking the first attack of its kind in the state.

Similarly, on December 11, 2022, another RPG, suspected to have been smuggled from across the border, struck the Sarhali police station in Tarn Taran, In April this year, the Kila Lal Singh police station in Batala came under RPG attack, again highlighting the growing use of such heavy weaponry in terrorist activities. In April this year, the Jalandhar unit of Punjab police’s counter-intelligence wing had seized two grenades and a launcher.

RPGs were recovered in Punjab during the days of terrorism in the 1980s. A large number have also been seized in Jammu and Kashmir since insurgency and terrorism afflicted the area in the early 1990s.

RPG is a lightweight man-portable, shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon system employed by the infantry against armoured vehicles, bunkers and buildings. The grenade, carrying high explosive, is unguided and has an effective range of about 500m. Of Soviet origin, it is widely used across the world by militaries as well as terrorist organisations. Defence experts say that the weapon is simple, cheap and widely available, costing anywhere between $500 to 2,000.

BSF officers said that over the last about a year, there has been a spurt in the number of drone incursions and attempts to smuggle in weapons and ammunition. BSF spokesman, DIG AK Vidyarthi said that since the change of guard in the Pakistani Army and the ISI, the influx of arms and explosives have increased substantially.

Till October 23, the BSF has recovered 213 drones, 325 kg narcotics, including heroin and ICE; 180 weapons, mostly pistols; 12 grenades and 10 kg of high explosives in Punjab alone, besides neutralising three cross-border intruders and apprehending 210 Indian nationals and 16 Pakistani nationals suspected of smuggling. These figures, BSF officials said, are in addition to seizures and arrests made in the state by the Punjab Police, which earlier this month, seized two AK-47 assault rifles.

While drones launched from Pakistan have become the prime mode of smuggling weapons and narcotics, the use of land routes, especially in riverine areas along the Ravi and Sutlej, is not ruled out.

With the recent floods damaging the border fence in some areas, the BSF had adopted different tactics to guard the border with Pakistan, relying on increased patrolling and greater employment of surveillance gadgets. While the fence in some areas has been repaired in a few areas where the damage was heavy, work is underway on a war footing to reinstate it as it involves earth work to stabilise the land and install new structures.