New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is likely to purchase Israel made anti drone system to arm Border Security Force (BSF) to fight against drones coming from Pakistan, as the neighbouring country has started using Chinese made high quality drones to smuggle drugs, arms and ammunition into India in a rapid scale.
“The government is in talks with two different companies of Israel for such anti-drone technology. The government is aware of the fact that state actors across the border have been using high quality drones to pump drugs and arms & ammunition in India,” a senior official told this correspondent on Thursday on condition of anonymity.
The government is also under process to purchase drones made by domestic manufacturers, the official said.
It is worth mentioning that the Government of India earlier deployed an Israel-developed smart fencing system having a ‘quick response team’ mechanism along its volatile border with Pakistan. The same system is under implementation along a small portion of India-Bangladesh border.
Government data available with ETV Bharat said that at least 12 high quality drones have been shot down in the last one month by the border guarding agency-BSF-from along the India-Pakistan border which were carrying drugs and narcotics. These new HD drones can fly at significant altitudes and carry heavy payloads with increased speed.
On Wednesday, based on specific information BSF troops intercepted a suspected drone activity near Village – Mianwala of district Tarn Taranin Punjab. “Following search operation by our jawans, we recovered one drone along with one small plastic bottle filled with contraband item suspected to be heroin (534 gms), wrapped with white adhesive tape, a metallic ring attached with it, from the farming field ahead of border fencing near village Mianwala,” a BSF official said.
The recovered drone is a China made quadcopter-model DJI Mavic 3 classic. “This was the latest incident where smugglers and terrorists have been trying to pump narcotics substances into India with the use of high-tech drones,” the official said. Earlier on Monday, the BSF also recovered another drone, a quadcopter-model-DJI Matrice RTK 300, also made in China.
“These new HD drones can fly at significant altitudes and carry heavy payloads with increased speed. Previously, Pakistan used cheap drones,” the official said. These are HD drones with high speeds, capable of operating in temperatures ranging from minus-20 degree to 50 degree Celsius, equipped with multi-dimensional sensing and positioning. They can fly for almost one hour and cover distances of 80-90km on a single charge, the official informed.
What has further worried the security agencies is the fact that local people living along the India-Pakistan border are being recruited by the smugglers to collect the consignments of drugs and deliver them to their destination. “Our people are closely interacting with the border people so that we can foil the nefarious design of the anti-India forces,” the official said.
