The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday claimed to have shot down a drone flying over the border belt of Kanchak near Jammu, PTI reported. It was allegedly carrying an improvised explosive device that weighed 5 kg.
The police said they received inputs that Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad was dropping payload in Akhnoor sector through a drone, the Hindustan Times reported.
“We acted swiftly upon the input and laid an ambush,” Mukesh Singh, Jammu and Kashmir’s additional director general of police, told the newspaper. “Around 1 am, a police team shot down a drone, well packed with five kg IED, which was almost ready to be used.” The police officer added that only a wire had to be connected to cause an explosion.
The officer added that the spot where the drone was shot down was 6 km to 7 km from the border.
The police have confirmed that a similar drone was used in the attack on an airbase in Jammu last month, in which two Indian Air Force personnel were injured.
Singh said the drone shot down on Friday was a hexacopter with six wings and fitted with a Global Positioning System device and a flight controller. He added that it was assembled with parts manufactured in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Security forces have been on alert since the drone attack in Jammu on June 27. Srinagar and Rajouri had banned the sale and possession of drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles.
On July 1, Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Mukund Naravane had said that the easy availability of drones had made security challenges more complex, adding that India was preparing to counter the threats.
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