Pakistani drone downed near LoC in Rajouri, searches underway

Rajouri/Jammu, Apr 13 (PTI) A Pakistani drone was brought down by security forces as it crossed the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district, and a massive search operation has been launched in the area, officials said on Thursday.

They said five magazines of AK-47 rifle, 131 rounds of fire, Rs 2 lakh in cash and other items have been recovered from the packet attached to the drone. Sources said they suspect some other drones might have dropped weapons, explosives or such items and the search has been launched to recover them.

“On the intervening night of April 12 and 13, alert troops of Indian army in coordination with police recovered a drone, which crossed the Line of Control from Pakistan into Indian territory in Beri Pattan area of Sunderbani sector of the district,” a defence spokesperson said.

Earlier official sources said suspicious movement of aerial objects was detected in areas of Beri Patan, Siot of LoC after which a massive cordon and search operation was launched, they said.

In this operation, teams of security forces managed to bring down a drone, they said.

Sources claimed that extensive search operations are going on in many villages of this area and some more recoveries are expected.

“We can only share that a drone has been successfully tracked and recovery has been made. More details will be shared later,” an official had said earlier in the morning.

Drones smuggling in arms, cash and narcotics have become a major challenge for security forces in border areas of both International Border and Line of Control. Officials have said that repeated attempts are being made to drop these material to fuel terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir.