Ahead of this year's Amarnath Yatra, the Jammu and Kashmir Police foiled another attempt of Pakistan to drop arms and ammunition on this side of the border through drones. A drone originating from Pakistan was shot down along the International Border (IB) in the Hiranagar sector of Kathua district on early Sunday morning.
Reports said that the bomb disposal expert immediately rushed to the spot where the drone was shot down. It has a payload of attachments of three packets with it.
Unconfirmed reports said that ammunition has been recovered from the packets attached to the drone.
Quoting Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kathua Ramesh Kotwal, a local news agency reported that seven under-barrel grenade launchers and seven sticky/magnetic bombs were recovered from the payload attached to the drone.
"Experts of bomb disposal squad are conducting analysis of the recovered materials", reports said.
According to police on the basis of drone activity observed in the area of Talli Hariya Chak under police station Rajbagh in district Kathua, every morning search party of police was being regularly sent in the general area.
"Today early morning, the search party observed a drone coming from the border side and they fired at it," police said, adding, "It has a payload attachment with it which is being screened by the bomb disposal experts".
Pak-based terrorists used a drone to attack Satwari Air Force Station
The first of its kind in the country, two bombs were dropped inside the Indian Air Force (IAF) Station adjacent to Jammu Airport in the Satwari area in the wee hours of June 27, 2021 morning.
The bombs were dropped by two drones causing minor damage to a hall and lawn and injuries to two IAF personnel.
After the attack, the Director-General of Police (DGP) of Jammu and Kashmir Police Dilgab Singh admitted that drones were used in the Satwari Airport strike, which is the first of its kind terror attack in the country.
Earlier Pakistan was using drones to drop arms for terror groups active in Jammu and Kashmir, but it was the first time that the same tactics were adopted to drop ammunition at a vital defence installation.
Pak drones dropped sticky bombs earlier also
As reported earlier in February 2021, the Border Security Force (BSF) had recovered bombs dropped by a drone in the Samba sector.
14 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) with in-built magnets, which could be used as "sticky bombs" by sticking them on vehicles and controlling them using a timer and a remotely held device. Arms dropped by a drone operated from the Pakistani side were also recovered in Akhnoor some months back.
On July 24, 2021, the Jammu and Kashmir police had shot down a hexacopter drone carrying 5 kg of IED, in the wee hours in the Kanachak border area of Akhnoor in Jammu.
An arms consignment dropped by a drone from Pakistan has been recovered by police near the International Border (IB) near Jammu on October 3, 2021.
The recovery was made from the dropped packet including an AK assault rifle, three magazines, 30 rounds, and a telescope. The recovery was made from Sounjana village of Phalain Mandal, about six km from the IB, late Saturday night after a villager informed police about a humming sound and the dropping of the payload by drone.
