Punjab Police and BSF shoot at incoming Pakistan drone near Gurdaspur border
Gurdaspur: Five days after it busted a drone module with international linkages in Amritsar (Rural) district, the Punjab Police seized 11 Arges-84 hand grenades dropped on the night of December 19 by a drone launched from Pakistan.
Pakistan drone was shot at jointly by Punjab police and Border Security Force (BSF) personnel close to the border in Gurdaspur district.
The shocking seizures came even as a police team, investigating the December 14 drone module case of Amritsar (Rural) district, arrested two Delhi-based suppliers/assemblers of drones, taking the total number of arrests in the case to eight, including the four jailed smugglers who were found connected with the case.
Also Read | “Government alert, no need to panic”: Harsh Vardhan on mutant coronavirus in UK
Four drones, one partially constructed drone, video transmitter system, drone hardware, and other crucial evidence has been recovered in the case, in which investigations so far have revealed key linkages between Pakistan-based entities who were actively involved in the latest drone module as well as the earlier two modules.
Meanwhile, BSF personnel deployed at BOP Chakri in the Gurdaspur sector had noticed a Pak drone entering Indian territory around 11:30 pm, and BSF troops immediately fired multiple shots in an attempt to bring down the drone.
Also Read | No waiting list from 2024? Here’s what Indian Railways has to say
At the same time, the BSF personnel alerted the Gurdaspur police about the incident, and SHO PS Dorangla immediately reached the area and deployed cops to engage the drone. On hearing the buzzing sound of the drone, the police personnel also fired multiple shots from AK47 and SLR Rifles to bring down the drone, which soon disappeared.
A search operation was mounted in the area leading to the recovery of a plastic box containing 11 Arges-84 Hand grenades from near Dhussi Bandh, in the area of Salach village, PS Dorangla. The box of hand grenades had been attached with a wooden frame and lowered from the drone to the ground with a nylon rope.
Austrian in nature, the Arges Type HG 84 series anti-personnel fragmentation hand grenade, is a conventional hand grenade system designed to inflict massive damage against soft targets within its blast radius, spraying shrapnel out to a distance of 30 meters at speed, said the DGP, adding that the drone was however not recovered and it is suspected that it managed to fly back into Pakistan territory after dropping the recovered payload.
-PTC News
