A drone sent from Pakistan was found lying in a mustard field at Chak 24 KND village, just 2.5 km from the international border, in the Khajuwala area of Rajasthan district on Thursday. Eight packets were tied to the drone, containing five China-made 9mm pistols and 325 live cartridges.Official sources said that a farmer who went to work in the field noticed the drone and suspicious packets attached to it. He immediately informed the nearby Border Security Force (BSF) Himgiri post. BSF personnel immediately arrived at the scene. Meanwhile, a police team also arrived. Upon opening the packets, five China-made 9-mm pistols and 325 live cartridges were recovered.
Khajuwala Additional Superintendent of Police Amarjeet Chawla said that the packaging was identical to that used by Pakistan to drop heroin via drones. It appeared that the drone was sent from Pakistan late at night on a mission to drop weapons into the Indian territory. Possibly due to a network connection failure or a technical fault, the handler lost control of the drone and it crashed into a field.
Joint teams of the police, BSF and other intelligence agencies launched an intensive search operation in the entire area, which continued until evening. No other suspicious objects or packets were found during the search.
A case was registered against unknown persons. The consignment has been seized. The drone has been sent to the BSF’s Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to investigate how far and at what altitude was the drone flown from Pakistan. It will also reveal how many flights the drone has made and where it has travelled.
