No let up in drone menace from Pakistan this year too: IB sources

The drones from Pakistan flying in India have once again raised alarm bells. The Intelligence Bureau has sounded an alert that the incidents involving drones may go up in the coming months.

There is a lot of activity that is going on and the agencies are on a state of very high-alert as Pakistan looks to up the ante. The recent revelation by slain gangster, Atiq Ahmed is also quite concerning. He had told the police that he had links with the ISI and the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. He also said that he had purchased weapons which were dropped off in Punjab by drones. He had also told the cops that the terrorists procure their weapons in the same way.

An Intelligence Bureau official tells OneIndia that drones continue to remain a major menace for the agencies.

In Punjab, as many as 10 drone intrusions have been reported in the past month. The Border Security Force has managed to capture just one. The timings of the drone intrusions has been reduced in the recent past and this has made it difficult for the forces to shoot them down.

Data from the BSF shows that between March 19 and April 15, the incidents involving the drone intrusions stood at 10. These drones have dropped arms, ammunitions and drugs.

AK Vidyarthi, deputy inspector general (DIG) said, "the time of movement of drones into the Indian territory has drastically decreased in the past few weeks, due to which we are facing problems in downing them."

This year the BSF has shot down 8 drones, while last year the number stood at 23.

The IB official cited above said that Pakistan would continue to use this method to drop off arms and ammunition. Going by the confession of Atiq Ahmed, it becomes clear that the drone menace is not just being lapped by terrorists in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, but gangsters in other parts of the country as well.

The Indian security agencies are not taking this lightly and are re-working their strategy as the situation is evolving in nature. The BSF has learnt that most drones have managed to retreat after dropping off the consignment. This is become a severe problem for the agencies. However the technology to tackle the drones is being reworked. An Intelligence Bureau report prepared in 2021 had clearly pointed towards the menace of drones and how they will be used by Pakistan to spread havoc in India.

On Sunday, the BSF troops had recovered over three-kilograms of heron that were airdropped by a Pakistan drone near the India-Pakistan border in Amritsar, Punjab. The BSF however opened fire on the unmanned vehicle, following which the drug consignment was recovered.

Drugs dropped off in India are picked up smugglers who sell the same in the market and the proceeds are used towards funding terror.