The Border Security Force (BSF) has again shot down a drone that entered India from the Pakistani side along the international border in Punjab’s Gurdaspur early Friday morning. The drone – which is a quadcopter – fell near Bhaini Gill village in Amritsar.
“On the intervening night of October 13 and 14, BSF troops deployed at the border heard the buzzing sound of a suspected flying object entering from Pakistan into Indian territory,” the note from the BSF said.
Following the drill, the troops tried to intercept the suspected flying object by firing. The whole area was cordoned and police and other security agencies were informed.
The officers fired 11 rounds of 5.56 MM from INSAS Rifle and three illumination bombs towards the drone. Later, during the search, one drone was recovered with its rotor broken due to the bullet shot.
Officials said it is a quadcopter which was carrying one nylon rope of approx. 300 meters with six reflector lights and one green colour strap. It was also found that one wing rod of this quadcopter was broken but hasn’t been recovered so far.
A search operation was launched in the area to check if any consignment was dropped by the drone.
It is suspected that the covert activity was triggered with the intention of smuggling banned contrabands. “Alert troops of BSF once again were able to capture a drone and foiled smuggling attempts,” the BSF statement said.
Earlier in July, a similar Pakistani drone infiltration bid was foiled after a drone was spotted flying along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district. The army and security personnel deployed at the LOC made it retreat by firing at it. It was said that the flying object had to return to the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir side.
In the past nine months, security forces have observed the illegal entry of 191 drones into Indian territory from neighbouring Pakistan.