E-Paper
BSF detected 1,952 drone sightings along Pakistan, Bangladesh borders in a year
The 1,952 drone sightings across the eastern and western theatres include instances of same drones being spotted at different border points and flagged by Border Security Force (BSF)
New Delhi: The Border Security Force (BSF) in the last one year detected at least 1,816 drone sightings along the Indo-Pak border and 136 along the Indo-Bangladesh border, according to BSF’s annual data for the period between November 1, 2024, and October 31, 2025.
The 1,952 drone sightings across the eastern and western theatres include instances of the same drones being spotted at different border points and flagged by border guards.
Since 2019, drug and arms smugglers based in Pakistan have been using drones to send drugs, arms and ammunition into India. A majority of these drone intrusions have been reported along the Indo-Pak border in Punjab. This year, the BSF’s Punjab sector has shot down nearly 255 drones in the state.
Sharing details of initiatives taken to combat smugglers at the Indo-Pak border, a BSF spokesperson said an anti-drone system has been deployed to counter rogue drones. The system can detect rogue drones and interdict them using jamming, spoofing and cyber takeover mechanisms.
Currently, 23 anti-rogue drone systems are deployed along the western border, which have proved to be highly effective.
The BSF has also deployed 100 ultra-light thermal imagers on the western border. These compact, lightweight devices can be used as handheld units or as weapon-mounted sights, with the capability to identify targets in total darkness, smoke and fog without any kind of active illumination.
Drone-based smuggling of drugs and weapons from Pakistan has increased in recent years. The first such case was detected along the Indo-Pak frontier in Punjab in mid-2019. There was only one case in 2021, none in 2020, and two in 2019. This year, 255 drones of Chinese make — mostly DJI Matrice and DJI Mavic models — have been downed by the forces.
Records show that weapons such as AK-series rifles and Chinese pistols are sent from Pakistan via drones. While cases were initially restricted to the Indo-Pak frontier in Punjab, security personnel in Jammu have also been regularly reporting drone sightings from across the border.
In recent years, weapons smuggled using drones have been linked to cases such as the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala. Similarly, drones were used to supply ammunition to local handlers involved in the rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack on the Sarhali police station in August 2023 and the attack on the Punjab Police intelligence wing headquarters in Mohali in May 2022.
