BSF Boosts Deployment as 95 Drones, Mostly from Punjab, Recovered: Special DG

Yogesh Bahadur Khurania, the Special Director General of the BSF Western Command, said on Monday that 95 drones have been found this year, mostly in Punjab. He also said that many things have been done, like sending more troops and making maps of weak spots, to stop people from sneaking drugs and weapons across the border.

The Western Command of the Border Security Force (BSF) is in charge of managing the five borders between India and Pakistan. These are Kashmir, Jammu, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Gujarat.

Khurania told the reporters here that drug smuggling has been a problem in Punjab and some parts of Rajasthan and Jammu for a long time.

“For the last two to three years, we are seeing that continuous attempts are being made to smuggle drugs and weapons from across the border with the use of drones,” he said.

Khurania said that the BSF troops are getting training and special techniques are being used to stop people from crossing the border to bring drugs into the country.

He said, “I’m happy to say that 95 drones have been seized by the BSF and the state police so far in 2023.” He also said that most of them had been found in Punjab.

Khurania talked about the steps being taken to stop drug smuggling and said that a database has been made and vulnerability mapping has been done to find more places where illegal activities like this are happening.

“Who are the people who did this crime?” There is also a database set up for this purpose, he said.

In addition, the BSF Special Director General (DG) said that their job isn’t just to shoot down drones, but also to work with the police to find out who the drone was meant for and who was involved in it.

“There are many cases in which those who were involved in it were nabbed and following their investigation, we got good inputs,” he said.

Khurania said that the BSF troops were only stationed at the borders before.

He said that more troops have been sent out because of more drone activity, and that their movement could be seen five to six kilometers inside Indian territory.

Khurania said that special checkpoints, or “nakas,” have been set up with the help of the local police to stop people from doing illegal things.

He also said that CCTVs would be put in at weak spots near the borders of Punjab as part of a plan to stop people from smuggling things across. These cameras would be put in by March 2024.

Khurania said that a detailed SOP (standard operating procedure) has been made for the soldiers to follow when dealing with drones that come from across the border.

He also said that technical and human solutions have been built into it.

The senior BSF officer said that big drones that could carry three to five kg were used before.

But in the last three months, he said, “we’ve seen a change: small drones are being used to carry 400 to 500 grams of weight.” He was talking about how smugglers have changed how they do business lately when they steal heroin from across the border.

One reason could be that small drones are less expensive and will do less damage if they are shot down.

He did say, though, that it is also hard to keep an eye on small drones.

His words, “We have accepted these challenges,” were clear.

Khurania praised the farmers in Punjab who live near the border and said that they are the BSF’s eyes and ears and tell them about any strange activity they see.

He said that the BSF seized a total of 755 kg of drugs, 15 different types of rifles, and 38 pistols during different operations in 2023. They also caught 36 Pakistanis and stopped nine people from crossing the border along the International Boundary (IB) and the Line of Control (LoC).