Hexacopter carrying 5-kg IED shot down in Kanachak area of Jammu

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 23

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Averting a major terror plot, the J&K Police have shot down a drone carrying an improvised explosive device (IED) and other surveillance equipments around 6 km from the International Border (IB) in Kanachak area of Jammu.

Blast averted, say police

• Police say a possible IED blast has been prevented. The serial number of the flight controller is a digit different from the drone which was found in Kathua last year.
• The string used to drop payload was similar to the one found from the bomb crater site of the Jammu Air Force station, which confirms a drone was used to drop IED at the airport.

Briefing mediapersons, Jammu ADGP Mukesh Singh said the hexacopter was equipped with a flight controller and Global Positioning System (GPS). “Interestingly, the serial number of the flight controller is a digit different from the drone which was found in Kathua last year. It was an assembled one, having some parts from China and Taiwan,” he said. It carried 5-kg IED material in an almost prepared condition.

Following specific information, a team was deployed near Akhnoor. “Around 1 am when a drone lowered to drop the payload, the police team shot it down,” the officer said, adding that a possible IED blast had been prevented.

There is a one-digit difference in the serial number of this drone and the one shot down in Kathua last year, which points towards the fact that terrorist organisations across the border, such as the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), have acquired flight controllers and are sending drones with arms and IEDs towards the Indian side, he said.

Interesting here to note is that the string used to drop the payload from the drone was similar to the one found from the bomb crater site of the Jammu Air Force station, which confirms that a drone was used to drop the IED at the airport, the officer added.