Pakistan-backed terror groups and its Interservice Intelligence have started using larger drones to expand their ability to smuggle weapons and ammunition across the border into Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir in India, people familiar with the matter said.
Counter-terrorism officials in Delhi said that terror groups and the ISI, which had been using drones for small-scale arms trafficking for the past few years, had acquired improved versions of the drones that can carry much larger quantities of firearms in each. departure. .
The capacity increase, an official said, was crucial as high mountain passes on the Line of Control (LoC) are covered in snow to make it difficult for jihadist infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir. There are several intelligence reports, he said, that the deep state of Pakistan is using gun drops in Punjab, which are aimed at terrorists operating in Jammu and Kashmir.
The most recent reports also indicate that Pakistan-based Khalistani groups are also being pressured by their handlers to exploit the agitation of farmers in Punjab as part of their continued effort to reactivate militancy in the border state. These suspicions have been communicated to the Center and the internal security organizations by the State Police time and again.
In Punjab alone, authorities said, Punjab police have recovered four Chinese drones along with weapons since August 12, 2019, in addition to other air movements.
But Chinese commercial drones that are used to transport firearms are only part of the problem. Intelligence agencies have also alerted security forces to be alert to the threat of drones capable of carrying cargo that are used to bomb targets near the border.
Pakistan’s ISI, inspired by the success of using cheap drones to carry out small bomb attacks, has been exploring this option for terrorist groups. The ISI had first presented its plan at a meeting with senior Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed commanders in Taxila, Punjab province, in April this year. There was a follow-up meeting the following month at the brigade’s headquarters in the Kotli district of Pakistani-occupied Kashmir, according to an intelligence report reviewed by the Hindustan Times in October.
Authorities said that while India is pushing hard to develop its anti-drone capabilities, the next two foggy winter months along the border in Punjab and J&K will put Indian security agencies to the test as more are expected. drone launches.
Border Security Force Director General Rakesh Asthana alluded to the challenge at the force-lift day event on Tuesday, noting that the BSF had intercepted a drone with a huge payload of weapons and ammunition in the sector of Kathua from Jammu on June 20 this year.
The BSF, he said, is also working to find technical solutions to counter drone infiltrations on the western border.
Punjab police, for their part, have asked the Center, as well as the Indian Air Force (IAF), to deploy low-level radars along the border to detect and destroy the drones. Even the BSF, which controls international borders, is now rushing to acquire anti-drone systems, as in addition to weapons, drugs are also being dropped to raise funds for terrorism within the two Indian territories.
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