New Delhi: Nearly 75 percent of drones that flew from across the international border (IB) in the last four years originated from Lahore in Pakistan’s Punjab province and dropped in Amritsar, according to an analysis of data of drones intercepted the by Border Security Force (BSF).
Of the 251 transborder sorties carried out by these captured drones, 184 of them was shot down in Amritsar, according to the data. Additionally, 42 sorties that ended in Ferozepur district of Punjab originated from Narowal and Lahore of Pakistan’s Punjab province.
In 2022, the Centre had established a forensic laboratory in New Delhi to analyse the data such as flight path, speed, take-off and landing areas of the drones brought down by security forces such as the BSF as well as police forces in Punjab, Delhi, and Manipur. Another such laboratory was established in Amritsar in May 2024 to investigate data of drones originating from across the border.
In the four years since 2022, the New Delhi drone forensic laboratory has analysed data of 307 drones, including 284 downed by the BSF. On the other hand, the Amritsar lab has, so far, gleaned information from 194 drones. The BSF alone accounted for 190 of them.
Security forces and agencies have identified the delivery of narcotics, arms and ammunition via drones, which is believed to have started in 2019, as the “one of the biggest” security challenges in the border districts of Punjab in the last few years.
This can be understood from the exponential rise in drones shot by BSF personnel since the year 2020. From just one in 2020 and 2021 to 22 in 2022, the numbers shot up to 119 in 2023 and 304 in 2024.
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Punjab, the epicentre
Drones flown from across the IB, sources in the Punjab Police and the BSF said, have become a major source of narcotics and ammunition for low-key operatives working with the Pakistan-based terrorist groups.
Narcotics supplied by Pakistan-based terror operatives work as incentives for low-key operatives to receive consignments of ammunition from across the border, they said, adding that the payment is done in the form of narcotics used by their agents to mint money.
As many as 230 sorties were carried out to drop consignments in border districts such as Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Ferozepur in 2024, according to forensic analysis of drones shot down in Punjab. Amritsar topped the list with 184 drone sorties, all flown from Lahore, while Ferozepur and Gurdaspur saw 42 and 14 drone sorties, respectively.
“These drones have become a real menace over the last four years after the Covid pandemic. There have been numerous drones consignments of arms, ammunition and narcotics. All are being run by the terror operatives based in Pakistan who are actively supported by the Pakistan establishment,” a BSF source told ThePrint.
In January this year, the BSF intercepted 63 drones compared to 286 recovered and sent for forensic analysis last year, i.e., approximately 25 percent of the last year’s haul of drones sent for analysis.
This exponential increase has also coincided with an increase in the number of grenade or IED (improvised explosive device) attacks on the Punjab Police in border districts such as Amritsar.
“There have been at least 11 such incidents when a police establishment has been attacked by assailants with grenades and other explosives. All these accused arrested for the attacks have turned out to be low-key operatives who work for a few thousand rupees and carry out the attack on instructions of their handlers who are in touch with their masters in Pakistan or other countries through encrypted applications,” a source in the Punjab Police told ThePrint.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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