At UN, India flags threat of weaponised drones

New Delhi, June 29

Two days after a suspected drone attack on the Jammu air base, India flagged the issue at a UN conference that discussed terrorism and the current and emerging threats.

“Another add-on to existing worries is the use of drones. Being a low-cost option and easily available, utilisation of these platforms for sinister purposes by terrorist groups has become an imminent danger and challenge for security agencies worldwide,” said VSK Kaumudi, Special Secretary (Internal Security), Ministry of Home Affairs.

Kaumudi said the possibility of the use of weaponised drones for terrorist purposes against strategic and commercial assets called for serious attention by the member states. “We have witnessed terrorists using them to smuggle weapons across the border,” he said.

The Special Secretary emphasised that the trans-border nature of this threat called for collective and unified action by the international community to hold accountable the countries sheltering terrorists.

Other new avenues for spread of terrorism were misuse of new payment methods and crowd-funding platforms, the official observed. The increased use of closed group communications on Internet and social media platforms added to the concern, he said.

“Continuing advancements in evolving technologies—artificial intelligence, robotics, Deepfakes, Blockchain, Dark-web—can also be abused by terrorists. Already, crypto currencies and virtual assets are helping terror financing, helped by the anonymity and un-traceability nature of these technologies,” he said.

Kaumudi pointed out that Covid and the subsequent isolation had made people vulnerable to radicalisation and recruitment by terrorist groups who spread terrorist propaganda by enticing them into “video games”. —TNS

NIA to probe attack, 2 more ieds recovered

• The MHA on Tuesday handed over the probe into the Jammu drone attack to the NIA.
• Sources said two unexploded IEDs were also retrieved from the blast site, which could hold clues for further investigation.

India: Pak must Take verifiable action

India has told the UN General Assembly that it was high time the international community called on Pakistan to take “effective and irreversible” actions against terror outfits operating from its soil