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BSF recovers 26.8-kg heroin, pistol dropped by drone along border in Punjab’s Fazilka
BSF personnel opened fire after noticing the movement of three to four suspects who came to recover the consignment, but they managed to flee around Saturday midnight
The Border Security Force foiled another cross-border drug-smuggling attempt on Saturday as it recovered 26.8kg of heroin and a pistol dropped by a Pakistani drone in Punjab’s Fazilka district.
Also read: Five assault rifles, 5 pistols recovered near India-Pakistan border in Ferozepur
The BSF personnel even opened fire after noticing the movement of three to four suspects who came to recover the consignment, but they managed to flee.
At 12.05am, the personnel heard a buzzing sound of the Pakistani drone entering Indian territory near Churiwala Chusti village, 13km from Fazilka. They fired in the direction of the drone, which went back to Pakistan, the BSF spokesperson said.
During a search, the BSF personnel found 10 packets of heroin, a pistol, two magazines and 50 rounds of 9mm.
Initially, the BSF personnel recovered three big packets wrapped in yellow adhesive tape. On opening the packets, they found 10 smaller packets of heroin were recovered besides a 9mm pistol, two magazines and 50 cartridges.
In another incident on Friday night, BSF personnel at the Joginder out post heard a buzzing sound of a drone coming from Pakistan. They fired from 5.56mm INSAS rifle towards the sound 250 metres from the border fence.
The matter was reported to the air force station in Barnala and police. BSF personnel at the border outposts at Joginder, Raja Mohtam and Jalloke were on high alert.
THREE DRONES FOUND ALONG PAKISTAN BORDER IN A WEEK
On the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, a drone was found from a field near the India-Pakistan border in Tarn Taran district along with over 5kg of heroin.
On Monday, two Pakistani drones, carrying around 10kg of heroin, were shot down by the BSF along the border in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts.
On Wednesday, a broken quadcopter was recovered from a field of Van Tara Singh village at Khalra in Tarn Taran district.
BSF SHOT DOWN 16 DRONES TILL NOVEMBER
BSF director general Pankaj Singh had told ANI that the force, so far this year, had shot down 16 drones, adding that the BSF has adopted an anti-drone system and in-depth patrolling to take down unmanned aerial vehicles, which pose a security risk.
“While rogue drones have emerged as a new security challenge for the BSF, we haven’t yet achieved success with any one mechanism to counter them. Hence, we have adopted three to four ways of dealing with this threat and they have been giving very good results,” the BSF DG said.
“We have also given incentives to our jawans who shoot down these drones. Due to these efforts, we have shot down 16 drones this year till November, which is significantly more than just one drone shot down last year. The number of drones shot down is likely to increase to 25 by the end of this year,” he said.
