With the number of anonymous rogues from Pak rising, here's how BSF is beating down the drones

Since there is more scrutiny along the J&K border, Pakistan has been using the Punjab border to bring in arms and drugs and then smuggle it by road into the Valley.

New Delhi, Nov 14: The Indian security forces continue to deal with the menace of terrorists infiltrating from Pakistan. However, over the past two to three years, the biggest headache for the Forces, especially the Border Security Force (BSF), has been the menace of drones.

The aerial rogues from Pakistan has only increased in 2022 and the number of cases of drones bringing in arms, ammunition and drugs has only more than doubled this year.

The drones have come in handy for those from Pakistan indulging in nefarious activities in India due to its anonymity. Director General of the BSF, Pankaj Kumar Singh said that the Force has been at the receiving end of the drone menace for quite sometime. "The versatility of the drone, which is very well known, has been posing a problem to the BSF for us with nefarious elements having found new uses of the drone due to its anonymity and quick flight as sufficient height bypassing the frontiers," he said.

Culprit regions:

The main culprit regions are Punjab which saw 215 flights this year in comparison with the 22 that Jammu has witnessed. "We do not have a fool-proof solution to this grave problem as of now. The drones have been bringing across narcotics, arms and ammunition, counterfeit currency and all kinds of things," he said.

An official tells OneIndia that Pakistan has been using the Punjab border more than the one in Jammu and Kashmir. There is more scrutiny along the J&K border when compared to the one in Punjab. He also added that the tactic that is being used is to bring in the arms and drugs into Punjab and then smuggle it by road into Jammu and Kashmir. There have been ample cases in the past couple of years where arms and ammunition meant for Jammu and Kashmir have made its landfall in Punjab, the official also added.

The way forward:

A recent paper titled 'Drone: A new Frontier for the Police which was published in the Indian Police Journal said that a drone gun is capable of jamming the radio, Global Positioning System and mobile signal between the drone and the pilot and forces the drone to ground in good time before it could wreck any damage. This Australia designed weapon has an effective range of 2 kilometres, the paper further added.

Another solution, according to the paper, to block a lethal drone is the sky fence system. This uses a range of signal disruptors to jam the flight path and also prevent the drones from entering their target.

The DG BSF said that the force started getting into the forensics part. "We realised that these drones had chips similar to computation devices like computers and mobile phones. As digital forensics help in solving cyber crimes, we got answers here too," he said.

The BSF spent around Rs 50 lakh in creating the forensic lab and has deployed a chosen manpower of tech-savvy officers and personnel to run it, he added. "We found water the forensic analysis of the drones their flight paths, launching and landing points, landing points, timings, GPS coordinates and even messages they have exchanged. We realised that there was an information mine. If we could get into this, we could find the addresses of the suspects, locations and much more," Singh also said.

Good coordination:

Officials cited above explained that for any border force to function effectively, it is important that there is good coordination with the local police force. The BSF has managed to develop good coordination with the Punjab Police over this issue.
The police had in fact provided 200 personnel to the BSF to conduct depth patrols at the front to check drones and their droppings. Singh said that when drone droppings happened in the Havelia area of Punjab in March, a joint probe and action by two security agencies led to the arrest of 8 persons. A new system of incentivising and giving cash rewards to its border teams who shoot down drones has been introduced, he further added.

"Eleven drones have been shot down by the BSF this year and we are going to give handsome rewards to the teams who bring these drones down," Singh said while also adding that there is plenty of enthusiasm among these teams.

"We are undertaking depth patrolling so that people cannot come to the border to pick drone droppings. We are digging deep into drone forensics to extract information about its senders and receivers," Singh said while explaining about the two-pronged approach that the BSF has taken.