Indian security forces noticed at least 10-15 drones every day hovering along the Pakistan border after the abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, said officials on Friday. However, the drone activity got reduced to 1-2 sightings in a month along the border areas by the month of December, added the officials. The drone activity has been suspected as a surveillance exercise by Pakistan. According to officials, at least 10-15 drones were sighted daily by security agencies like the Border Security Force (BSF) besides local police and others in frontier areas between August 5 and October 2019. “Shooting or bringing down a drone requires some specific weapons and training that is not available to these agencies as of now. So, the existing instruction is whenever possible and if within range, take aim at them and bring them down,” a senior officer said. However, the hovering of drones from across the border was not limited to Jammu and Punjab, but there have been sightings of drones at Gujarat border as well. There are essentially three types of drones like the ones controlled by a remote on the ground, GPS fed and the latest is a pre-fed information-laden drone that executes its task and is difficult to intercept and kill. Taking cognisance of the increasing risk that these drones pose, the Union home minister and other central agencies are working on developing anti-drone technology to take down the menace.
