Gurdaspur: Chinese-made arms dropped by Pakistani drone

Ravi Dhaliwal

Gurdaspur, January 18

The BSF today seized Chinese-made weapons dropped by a Pakistani Drone in the frontier village Uncha Takala in the district last night.

Interestingly the BSF did not share information of the drone’s flight and subsequent arms cache with the Punjab Police. The Gurdaspur police, later on its own, conducted a search operation which yielded nothing. Under normal circumstances, a joint search is carried out by both security agencies.

BSF DIG Prabhakar Joshi said four Chinese-manufactured pistols, 47 rounds and eight magazines were found in the agriculture fields during a search.

He added that the consignment bore the name of ‘Norinco.’ “Later, we got to know that the arms and ammunition were manufactured by China North Industries Group Corporation going by the acronym ‘Norinco’,” he said.

An official said ‘Norinco’ is a Chinese state-owned defence corporation that manufactures a diverse range of commercial and military products. It is said to be one of the world’s largest defence contractors.

The DIG added that his troops were carrying out a training session at the Ambedkar play ground in the village when they heard a humming sound. “Later, my jawans fired 17 rounds at the drone which then flew towards Pakistan. A search of the adjoining agriculture fields revealed that the drone, before making its about-turn, had dropped the arms cache,” he said.

According to sources, what is worrying the security agencies is the fact that the drone managed to infiltrate 11 km inside the Indian territory.

Officials say last night’s incident has spurned a combing operation among villages that are located near the international border. “Generations of these villagers have been involved in drug-trafficking. It is possible that some of these people may have been the recipients of the arms cache. We are checking their antecedents,” he said.