Indian Troops to Shoot Down Pak Drones in its Airspace After Mysterious Airdrop

Following mysterious airdrop of ammunition, grenades, rifles and fake currency in the Indo-Pakistan border state of Punjab on Sunday, India’s Border Security Force (BSF) has asked its troops to shoot down any drone intruding into Indian airspace.

The BSF guards the 180km of the International Border (IB) with Pakistan along with the Indian army.

“It is a new modus operandi of Pakistan to smuggle arms, ammunition and explosives into India for triggering terror. We have activated our forces to keep a hawk's eye on movement of drones along the IB,” Indian news agency PTI quoted BSF officials as saying.

Indian intelligence agencies on Wednesday stated that on September 22, Islamabad used Chinese drones with 10kg payloads to drop weapons on eight separate occasions in Tarn Taran district, Punjab state.

“Recent incidents of Pakistan-origin drones dropping consignments of arms & ammunition is a new and serious dimension on Pakistan's sinister designs in aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370. Request Amit Shah, Indian Minister of Home Affairs, to ensure that this drone problem is handled at the earliest,” Capt.Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister of Punjab tweeted on September 24.

Pakistan allegedly undertook 10 drone sorties over eight days to airdrop  five AK-47 rifles, 24 magazines and 544 rounds of ammunition, four Chinese.30 bore pistols, nine hand grenades, five satellite phones with ancillary equipment, two mobile phones, two wireless sets, and counterfeit currency in India, local media reported.  

The drones returned after dropping off the intended payload, the reports said.