New Delhi: The Border Security Force (BSF) thwarted an infiltration attempt along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab's Gurdaspur. BSF personnel fired at a Pakistani drone and forced it to return to the Pakistani side at the Kalampur border outpost in Gurdaspur, reported news agency ANI.
It is the third instance of a Pakistani drone being spotted on the Indian side in the last three days, according to the BSF. DIG BSF Prabhakar Joshi said, "A Pakistani drone was spotted by the Border Security Force (BSF) jawans at the Kalampur border outpost, on Sunday, January 1, at around 10.10 PM. The BSF jawans from the 89 battalion fired 20 rounds at the drone and fired three illumination bombs following which the drone went back to Pakistan."
In 2022, around 22 drones were captured and a total of 316 Kg of drugs were seized by the BSF. Apart from this, two Pakistani intruders were also killed by the BSF along the Punjab border.
In a statement, BSF said, "The troops of the Punjab Frontier have maintained an extremely high level of alertness and vigil. Resultantly, BSF has successfully detected and captured 22 drones and seized 316.988 kgs of heroin, 67 weapons, 850 rounds and killed two Pakistan intruders and apprehended 23 Pakistan nationals in different incidents."
Border Security Force, Punjab Frontier is safeguarding the 553-km long Indo-Pakistan International Border of Punjab.
Data from various security agencies have revealed there has been a threefold increase in drone sighting incidents along the India-Pakistan border in 2022. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have come up as a major source of smuggling arms and ammunition including drugs into India. The drones were seen in different areas in Punjab and were within a range of 2-10 km of the International Border.
(WIth Agency Inputs)