Ferozepur: Drone surge along Indo-Pak border raises security alarm
Major heroin hauls recovered from agricultural fields near BOPs
A spurt in cross-border drone activity along the zero line in Ferozepur district has raised serious concerns among intelligence and security agencies as eleven drones, along with over 10 kg heroin have been recovered during the past few days, indicating increased attempts of aerial infiltration.
As per information, the drones are increasingly being used by Pakistani based drug peddlers with support of state agencies to push narcotics and arms across the border, posing a fresh challenge to security and surveillance mechanisms.
In the recent recovery, one drone (DJI Mavic 4 Pro) was recovered from the agriculture fields near BOP Pachharian during a search operation by the BSF sleuths from the 99th Battalion following which, an FIR under sections 26,27,28,30 of Indian Aircraft Act against unidentified persons was registered at Sadar police station.
On Tuesday, one drone (DJI Mavic 4 Pro) was recovered from the agriculture fields in Palla Megha village near border outpost (BOP) Pachharian on April 19. The police had booked unidentified persons under sections 10, 11 and 12 of the Aircraft Act.
On April 17, four drones were recovered within a day. In the first recovery, BSF personnel from 158th Battalion recovered a drone along with 537 grams of heroin near BOP Raja Mohattam.
In another operation, BSF troops of the same battalion, during a joint search with Punjab Police, recovered a drone, leading to the registration of an FIR under the Indian Aircraft Act at Mamdot police station.
Continuing the operations, BSF personnel of the 155th Battalion recovered one drone (DJI Mavic 4 Pro) near a border outpost barrier after acting on specific inputs.
In a separate recovery, BSF personnel of the 99th Battalion seized another drone (DJI 3 Classic), from fields near Kilche village close to BOP Shame Ke.
On April 13, during a search operation, police had recovered a grey-coloured hexacopter drone (CE ROHS) along with heroin weighing 6.930 kg from agricultural fields near Kohala village. On the same day, in another incident, a drone carrying 894 grams of heroin was recovered during a joint operation near Jalal Wala village along the Indo-Pakistan border.
While the consistent recoveries over the past week have raised concerns about the increasing use of drones for cross-border smuggling, the security agencies continue to remain on heightened alert to counter the evolving threat, said an official. Even the police have installed Anti Drone Systems (ADS) along the border region to track the movement of drones, and more such equipment was being added to the fleet.
Meanwhile, the police were keeping an eye on people suspected to be involved in receiving drugs and dropping of arms by the Pakistani drones.
In the recent seizure of contraband, SSP Bhupinder Singh revealed that a notorious Pakistani drug lord named ‘Shahzad Bhatti’ was luring the local youths to recruit them as “couriers” to pick and drop the consignments to their forward links.
