Drone incursions on Punjab border up 4 times in a year
Vijay Mohan
Chandigarh, December 28
The Punjab frontier remained the most active sector in 2022 among the four states that share the International Border with Pakistan, with a nearly four-fold rise in hostile drone activity being reported.
The spike has prompted the BSF to initiate counter measures such as setting up of a special centre to train personnel in dealing with the threat from drones, establishing operational protocols and upgrading technical capability. From January 1 to December 28, there have been 254 drone activities in Punjab compared to 67 in 2021, said sources in the BSF. This includes 221 activities detected inside Indian territory and 22 inside Pakistan. The activity in Punjab accounts for about 84 per cent of the total drone activities reported along the entire western border this year.
Drones are being used to smuggle arms, narcotics and fake currency from Pakistan. Of the 254 instances of drones being spotted, BSF personnel opened fire on 226 occasions. The data also shows that nine drones were shot down by the BSF and another 12 may have landed or fallen due to other reasons.
Across the entire western front running through Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab and J&K, the number of drone activities rose from 100 to 304. Rajasthan reported the second highest drone activities this year, with 29 detections compared to six last year. J&K had reported 25 activities, the count falling to 16 this year.
