Even as tension prevails on the India-China border, a China-made drone flown from Pakistan territory put the border guarding troops on alert on Saturday. The China-made hexacopter, carrying huge consignment of arms and ammunition was aimed at carrying out a major terrorist action, according to the Border Security Force (BSF).
Intelligence sources said Pakistan’s ISI is trying to stir unrest on the western border at a time when Indian troops are engaged on the Line of Actual Control and use this opportunity to carry out terrorist strikes.
BSF sources said a major terrorist action was averted on Saturday morning when the alert troops of BSF Jammu shot down the drone near Kathua international border.
The drone was carrying one M4 carbine which was of US make, 60 rounds and two magazines and seven Chinese grenades. The hexacopter was of size 8 feet by 6.2 feet, ran on four batteries and had one radio signal receiver and two GPS devices.
The BSF intelligence branch has been getting inputs about possible use of drones for ferrying arms and ammunition from Pakistan into Indian side. Accordingly the troops were put on high alert and the border domination exercises like patrols and technological surveillance were exponentially increased.
At 5:10am, the BSF party noticed the movement of a hexacopter drone coming from Pakistani side. The drone was at a height of 150-200 feet inside Indian territory. The troops on the ground fired at it and shot it down. On recovery it was found that it was a China made hexacopter weighing around 17.5kg .
In recent months, the terror threat from drones being used by Pakistan to drop fake Indian currency and weapons into Indian territory has increased manifold. Eight sorties of drones in five days in August and in September post abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir had put the Indian troops on high alert. In some instances, arms, ammunitions and explosives were dropped into Indian side from across the border in Pakistan. Intelligence reports and further probe by the National Investigation Agency revealed that a larger conspiracy was being hatched by the ISI to revive terrorism and carry out huge terrorist attacks using drones.
The NIA has already filed a chargesheet against members of Pakistan-based Khalistan Zindabad Force, a banned terrorist organisation, accusing them of transporting consignments into Punjab to execute a huge terrorist incident and create an atmosphere of disharmony, communal tension and instability not only in Punjab but other states.
Further probe is going on into the fresh incident and security agencies are trying to ascertain the outfits behind this freshly averted terror strike.
