Suspected Pak drone spotted in Jammu’s Arnia again; Search launched

JAMMU: A Pakistani drone was spotted again along the Indo-Pak international border in the Arnia area of the RS Pura sector in Jammu district prompting the Border Security Force (BSF) guards to open fire during the wee hours on Saturday, officials said.

“A suspected surveillance drone of Pakistan was seen 150 metre inside the Indian territory near BOP Pindi on the International Border (IB) in Arnia,” said officials.

On seeing the drone, BSF guards of 98 Battalion fired 29 rounds. Later, the suspected drone returned to the Pakistan side.

A search operation has been launched in the area, said officials.

A BSF officer said that a humming sound of the suspected drone was heard at about 4.10 am by alert troops of BSF in the general area of Arnia.

“BSF troops fired towards the direction of the sound. The area has been cordoned with the help of police and a search is being conducted,” he said.

On February 24, a major terror plot by Pakistan’s ISI was averted by the Special Operations Group (SOG) and Jammu police in the same area after they recovered a consignment of arms and ammunition dropped by a Pakistani drone along the International Border in the Arnia area of the RS Pura Sector in Jammu district, said officials.

The consignment was dropped around 12.45 am on February 24.

“On the basis of input regarding drone activity and dropping of arms and ammunition by Pak-based terrorist outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba and The Resistance Front at the behest of Pak agency ISI in the Arnia area, a special search operation was launched,” ADGP Mukesh Singh had said.

“The operation was launched by SOG and the Jammu police. During the search operation, 3 boxes of arms and ammunition which were dropped through drone during the night hours were recovered by the search party from Treva village of Arnia,” he added.

The arms, ammunition and explosives recovered during the search operation included 3 detonators, 3 remote-controlled IEDs, 3 bottles of explosives, a bundle of cordex wire, 2 timer IEDs, 1 pistol, 2 magazines, 6 grenades and 70 rounds of ammunition.

“Dropping of this arms and explosives depicts a major terrorist plan of the Pak-based terror outfit LeT and its offshoot TRF,” the ADGP said.

On the morning of February 24, the BSF said it fired upon a Pakistani drone in Arnia area of RS Pura sector along the 198 km-long International border.

This drone, believed to be hexacopter, had also come around 100 to 150 metre inside the Indian territory and was flying between the 2 BSF posts.

It was believed that at least 2 sorties were made to drop the payload on the Indian side.

On June 27 last year, 2 Pak drones dropped explosives on the Indian Air Force (IAF) station in Jammu city that left 2 personnel injured.

Since then, there has been a spike in Pak drones intruding into Jammu and Kashmir to drop arms, ammunition, drugs and Hawala money to fuel terrorism.

On January 5, the BSF lodged a strong protest against Pakistan’s bid to push arms anda ammunition into the Indian side at a sector commander-level flag meeting between the two sides.

The sector commander-level meeting was held in Suchetgarh area between the two border guarding forces.

The Indian delegation was led by Surjit Singh, DIG, BSF, and the Pakistan delegation was led by Brigadier Fahd, sector commander, Pakistan Rangers, Sialkot sector.

It was the first sector commander-level meeting in 2022.

On February 9, the Army’s Tiger Divison held a senior officers’ conclave discussing narco-terror nexus, drone counter measures and the upcoming Amarnath Yatra.

The conclave was co-chaired by general officer commanding of the Rising Star Corps, Lt Gen PN Ananthanarayanan and DGP Jammu and Kashmir, Dilbag Singh.

On February 11, J&K administration asked all drone operators to compulsorily register on the digital sky platform of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The Jammu divisional administration issued a circular making it obligatory on all drone operators to register their ‘drones’ as per the government’s guidelines in view of the Drone Rules 2021, notified by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.