BSF shoots down drone from Pakistan, recovers 10.6kg of heroin in Amritsar

Heroin in nine packets concealed in a plastic bag found near Bharopal village of Amritsar district of Punjab a day after Tarn Taran police arrested two people with IED

The Border Security Force (BSF) shot down a drone from Pakistan and recovered 10.6kg of heroin near the border village of Bharopal in Amritsar district early on Monday.

Border Security Force personnel displaying the drone from Pakistan that was shot down near Bharopal village of Amritsar district on Monday. The BSF also recovered 10.6kg of heroin it was carrying. (Sameer Sehgal/HT)

BSF’s Punjab Frontier tweeted: “BSF troops foiled another smuggling attempt through Pak drone. Vigilant BSF troops fired at the drone coming from Pak and brought it down. Drone carrying nine packets suspected to be heroin (10.670 kg) in a bag was recovered.”

A BSF official said that personnel heard a buzzing sound of the drone and fired towards it, bringing it down. A search revealed the contraband was packed in nine small packets concealed in a plastic bag.

The incident comes a day after Tarn Taran police arrested two people and recovered an improvised explosive device (IED). Police suspect the IED may have been brought by a drone from Pakistan.

On April 29, the BSF brought down a Chinese drone near Dhanoe Kalan village in Amritsar sector.

Last month, Punjab governor Banwari Lal Purohit had visited border areas of the state and held meetings with security agencies of the central and state governments. The governor had called for increasing coordination between the security agencies to check the smuggling of arms, ammunition and drugs with the help of drones. He had held meetings with panchayats of border villages and asked people to support the BSF.

The BSF recently announced a reward of ₹1 lakh for providing information regarding smuggling with drones on the India-Pakistan border.