Chandigarh/Hisar: GPS-fitted drones that can lift up to 10 kg carried out seven to eight sorties from Pakistan to drop AK-47 rifles, hand grenades and pistols which were seized in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district, according to a Punjab police probe which also indicated the weapons were to be used for terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to a police official on Wednesday, it was for the first time that drones were used to drop weapons and communication devices like satellite phones in Punjab from across the border.
A half-burnt drone used in the operation was recovered from Tarn Taran, said the official of the Counter-Intelligence wing of the Punjab Police.
The Punjab Police on Sunday claimed to have busted a terror module of the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), backed by a group based in Pakistan and Germany. It said the terror group was conspiring to unleash a series of strikes in Punjab and adjoining states like J and K.
The police official, who gave details of the probe, said the weapons were intended to spread terror in J and K, weeks after the Centre abrogated provisions under Article 370 of the Constitution that granted special status to the state.
Four members of the KZF module — Balwant Singh, alias Nihang, Akashdeep Singh, alias Akash Randhawa, Harbhajan Singh and Balbir Singh — were arrested from the outskirts of Chohla Sahib village in Tarn Taran on Sunday.
During questioning, the accused told investigators that Global Positioning System(GPS)-fitted “big” drones were used to drop arms and ammunition from across the border in Tarn Taran district.
“Drones were sent from across the border seven to eight times to deliver arms and ammunition,” the official said, adding that the weapons were airdropped this month.
One drone can lift up to 10 kg of weight, the officer added.
Five AK-47 rifles, 16 magazines and 472 rounds of ammunition, four Chinese-made .30 bore pistols, along with eight magazines and 72 rounds of ammunition; nine hand grenades, five satellite phones with their ancillary equipment, two mobile phones, two wireless sets and fake currency with face value of Rs 10 lakh were seized, police said.
Interacting with reporters at Hisar Military Station in Haryana, South Western Command chief Lt Gen Alok Singh Kler also said there was “nothing to worry” at the moment.
“At present, the drones that you see being demonstrated at the event here, their capacity for carriage is very low. And, what we are hearing, the reports coming about drone being used across the border, their capacity is (also) very small. “So, there is no need to worry,” he said when asked about drones being used from across the border.
Lt Gen Kler said that the systems and radars of the Indian armed forces are in place.
“And any military use of any drone, which comes to our side will be shot down by the capabilities of the Indian Air Force and the Army,” he said. (PTI)
