JAMMU: A drone, suspected to be from Pakistan, was sighted hovering near the Line of Control (LoC) in Mendhar sector in J&K’s Poonch district on Saturday evening, following which Army cordoned off the area and launched a massive search operation, officials said on Sunday.
“The combing operation was launched in Dharana-Basoni, Mankote, Chhijla and adjoining areas shortly after the drone was detected,” a source said.
Over the past six months, there has been a spurt in Pakistan air-dropping weapons and narcotics along the LoC and International Border (IB) using drones, prompting high alert in those areas.
On November 20, BSF fired at a drone flying around 500m inside Indian territory along the IB in J&K’s Samba district. “After facing 12 to 15 rounds of fire, it retreated,” a BSF source said.
On September 19, Rajouri Police and Army jointly arrested three Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists who were picking up a weapon consignment air-dropped by Pakistan along the LoC in Gurdanbala area, barely 4km from Rajouri town.
On June 20, BSF successfully gunned down an arms-laden drone along the IB in Kathua’s Hiranagar sector and recovered an M-4 semi-automatic rifle, 60 rounds, two magazines and seven M-67 grenades.