BSF Recovers Old Broken Drone with 1 kg Heroin in Punjab’s Gurdaspur

An old Pakistani drone with 1kg of heroin has been recovered by Border Security Force (BSF) in Punjab’s Gurdaspur sector. In 2022, there was significantly higher drone activity around the border compared to the year before. The BSF was notified about the drone by farmers working in the area.

In the latest of what has been an increasing number of drone recoveries at the border, BSF has found an old broken Pakistani drone with a concernment of around 1kg of heroin near the International Border (IB). It was recovered in Punjab’s Gurdaspur sector after the BSF was informed by farmers working in the area.

In a statement, BSF said, “On January 2, 2023, an old broken Pak drone (Hexacopter) with consignment (approximately 1 kg of Heroin) has been recovered at a distance of 2 km from the IB by BSF troops in the AOR of BOP Kossowal, Sector Gurdaspur.” It is likely that this is the same drone that was detected during an intrusion by the BSF in the Kassowal Border Outpost at around 10 p.m. on December 31 last year.

The BSF guards the 3,323 km long India-Pakistan border and in 2022, saw a threefold increase in drone activity along the border with 311 observations of such Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs) till December 23. In 2021, there were 104 drone-related incidents while in 2020, there were only 77 UAV-related incidents.

In Punjab, 164 drones were observed in Amritsar, 25 in Abohar districts, 84 in Ferozpur, and 96 in Gurdaspur between January 2020 and December 2022. These drones are being used to smuggle narcotics, weapons, and explosives from Pakistan to India.

Most recently, Punjab police busted a drug cartel, arresting two of the cartel’s kingpins with 10 kgs of heroin as well as a sophisticated US-made drone worth Rs. 20 lahks on December 25. The detained were identified as Dalbir and Jagdish, both residents of Gharinda in Amritsar. They had been engaging in criminal activity for the past three years but had no prior case registered against them.

Vineet Washington