Punjab Police recovers AK-47 rifle, live cartridges dropped by Pakistan drone

CHENNAI: The Punjab Police on Tuesday said it has recovered an AK-47 rifle and 30 live cartridges dropped by a Pakistan drone from wheat fields near the International Border in Gurdaspur district.

The seizure of an assault rifle and cartridges came barely 48 hours after the recovery of 11 hand grenades from a field in Salach village, about one km from the border.

Punjab Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta said an extensive search operation had been launched by the Gurdaspur police in the area where the drone was sighted on Saturday.

He said the package containing the assault rifle appeared to have been dropped in wheat fields in Wazir Chak village village, 1.5 km away from Salach village under the Dorangla police station in Gurdaspur.

The seizure comes amid concerns raised by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh of fresh spurt of efforts by Pakistan-based militants to disturb the border state's peace, said a government statement.

The chief minister had recently met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in this regard, it further said.

Gupta said the recovered assault rifle and the magazine with 30 live cartridges had also been attached with a wooden frame and lowered from the drone with a nylon rope like the hand grenades which were recovered from Salach village on Sunday.

He said the package seemed to be a part of the same consignment, which was dropped by the drone on Saturday night.

The search operation continues, said Gupta, adding a case under relevant sections of the Explosive Substances Act has been registered at the Dorangla police station.

The BSF personnel deployed at the Chakri border post in the Gurdaspur sector had noticed a Pakistani drone entering the Indian territory and they had fired multiple shots in an attempt to bring it down.