Wave of drug-carrying drones flying into India from Pakistan
Indian border security Force have said they are battling an unprecedented 'drone menace' infiltrating the border with Pakistan, fuelling the drugs crisis in the state of Punjab and raising serious security issues.
Officials from India's Border Security Force (BSF) stationed in Punjab, a border state, disclosed to the media that they had intercepted a record-high of 90 drones from Pakistan in 2023, marking a substantial increase from previous records. They expressed concern that this number continues to rise steadily each passing month.
These drones, some identified as hexacopters measuring up to 8 feet in width equipped with high-resolution cameras, have been found penetrating up to 12 kilometers inside India's border. Most of these drones have been carrying shipments of opium and heroin, believed to originate from Afghanistan. Additionally, some have been discovered transporting weapons such as pistols and Chinese-made assault rifles.
The payloads, often concealed in small sacks or Coca-Cola bottles, have contributed significantly to the escalating drug crisis in the region. The Indian border officials, cognizant of the historical animosity between the two nuclear-armed nations, highlighted the escalating use of advanced drone technology by Pakistan as a substantial security risk.
While smuggling across the India-Pakistan border has been a long-standing issue, involving various methods ranging from camels and carrier pigeons to human traffickers and underground passages, the emergence of drones has fundamentally altered the landscape. Since the first drone sighting in Punjab in 2019, Indian BSF officials observed that drones have become the primary means of trafficking drugs from Pakistan. On certain occasions, as many as five or six drones have been intercepted in a single week.
This concerning trend indicates a shift in the tactics employed for cross-border smuggling, necessitating heightened vigilance and innovative security measures to counter the escalating drone-based trafficking activities impacting the region.
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