Punjab Police on Monday said it seized 11 hand grenades, suspected to have been dropped by a drone flying in from Pakistan, from a field near the International Border (IB) in Gurdaspur district.

The consignment was found in a field in Salach village, located about 1 km from the border, in Gurdaspur district, Gurdaspur Senior Superintendent of Police Rajinder Singh Sohal told PTI over the phone.

The grenades were hidden in a box and it was attached to a wooden frame, he said, adding the recovery was made Sunday evening.

Sohal said the Border Security Force had seen the movement of a drone on the intervening night of December 19 and 20 and had even fired at it.

“We conducted a search operation with the BSF personnel on Sunday and recovered grenades,” he said.

The first incident of dropping arms and weapons through drones from Pakistan came to light in Punjab in August 2019 when police recovered AK-47 rifles, magazines and rounds of ammunition, hand grenades, fake currency and other items in Tarn Taran district. Since then there have been a number of instances when security forces seized arms and ammunition dropped by drones flying in from across the Pakistani border.