BSF Punjab Frontier seizes 90 drones along IB this year

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Jalandhar, November 30

With 60-65 per cent heroin recovery being made by the Border Security Force through drones on the Punjab Frontier, force officials have concluded that the drone system could be an organised, state-sponsored mechanism deployed by Pakistan for drug delivery across the border.

IG BSF Atul Fulzele said, “Our laboratory in drone testing in Delhi has been studying drones recovered from the borders. The Punjab Frontier recovered 90 drones this year from across the 553 km border touching Punjab, mostly from the Amritsar and Ferozepur sectors.

“Most of these drones were found to be China made of the brand DJ Matrix. It has also been analysed that the coordinates of the starting point for all the drones were from near the establishments of the Pakistani Rangers. That leads to a suspicion that these could be state-sponsored. We have taken up the issue with Pakistan in all the forums including our flag meetings, protest notes and diplomatic meetings,” said Fulzele.

Interacting with the media a day before the 59th Raising Day at the frontier headquarters here, Fulzele said that various systems had been devised to detect drones, including manually.

“Our men are trained to detect the humming sound of drones. We also have drone-detecting devices in place. Additionally, we have also trained dogs to detect those as they start running in the direction of the drones,” he said.

He added, “The drones vary in size with a minimum capacity to carry 500 gm to those carrying a payload of up to 10-12 kg (weapon-loaded) and going as high as 1500m. This year, we have seized 500 kg of heroin in all, with the traditional way of throwing drugs across the borders or through pipes going down.”

He added that a lot of research was being done into drone detection, drone analysis etc and newer devices were being brought out under the Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme.

Fulzele said that since the Meteorological Department had predicted early, deep and dense foggy weather ahead, the BSF too had readied its SOP to handle the situation depending on the topography of each location. “Our image-detection devices are also in place,” he said.

The IG said that women’s deployment in the border force was now at 5 per cent for each of the 18 battalions in Punjab. “Women constables and SIs are being trained in horse-mounted patrolling. We are also expecting an all-woman band soon which would perform for the first time at the Republic Day function,” he said.

Hotspots: Amritsar, Ferozepur sectors

• Out of 90 drones, most recovered from the Amritsar and Ferozepur sectors
• The coordinates of the starting point were found to be near the establishments of Pakistan Rangers