The number of drones seen in Punjab, crossing the border from Pakistan, has seen a significant increase this year.
According to Border Security Force (BSF), up to 107 drones flying from Pakistan across the border have been spotted inside Indian territory till July this year, compared to 97 drones spotted throughout last year .
A senior BSF officer said these drones are used to deliver narcotics, weapons, explosives and ammunition.
As many as 97 drones coming from across the border were sighted by the BSF in 2021 along the International Border (IB), including 64 such cases in Punjab and 31 in Jammu and two drones were seen entering from the Line of Control (LOC) at Jammu.
In the first 7 months of 2022 to July, no less than 107 drones were sighted along the IB, including 14 in Jammu and 93 in the Punjab sector and no drones were sighted entering from the LOC in Jammu.
“There are teams with anti-drone guns deployed at the borders. Patrol teams monitor suspicious aerial activity and often recover narcotic substances and weapons delivered by these drones,” he said.
In 2021, BSF shot down one drone in Ferozepur area, while this year seven drones were shot down and a huge amount of narcotics believed to be delivered by drones were also recovered.
The total length of Punjab border with Pakistan is 553 kilometers and this along with the 198 km stretch of Indo-Pakistan border in Jammu region is guarded by BSF.
Another BSF officer said there was no effective anti-drone technology available to shoot down all drones crossing the international border, but their men on the ground were monitoring drones or any aerial objects crossing the border. .
“Not only on the ground, but we also keep an eye on the sky and BSF personnel are trained to shoot down unidentified drones. Sometimes drones fly too high to detect, we only detect it by humming as it approaches the ground,” he said.
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