Drone with 5.60 kg heroin seized along India-Pak border
Darpan News Desk IANS, 02 Dec, 2022 11:09 AM
Chandigarh, Dec 2 (IANS) Punjab Police on Friday foiled a major drug smuggling bid by Pakistan-based smugglers with the recovery of five packets of heroin, weighing 5.60 kg, along with a hexacopter drone, which was used to drop the consignment, during a search operation at border area of Khemkaran in Tarn Taran.
The operation was carried out with the support of the Border Security Force (BSF), a statement by the government said.
Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said after noticing the drone movement in India-Pakistan border on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, police teams from Tarn Taran district shared the pin-pointed inputs with the BSF and jointly conducted a search operation in the area, which was just 2 km away from the border.
"During the search, a blue and black coloured hexacopter drone (model E616S) along with black tape-wrapped five packets of heroin weighing 5.60 kg was found lying in the agricultural land of a local resident," he said, adding the preliminary investigations suggest this drone was found to be having a modern technology and it could lift a good amount of weight.
This is the third such drone recovered by the Tarn Taran Police in less than a week.
Earlier, a hexacopter drone and a tape-wrapped package containing six packets of heroin, weighing 6.68 kg, was recovered in the jurisdiction of border outpost Harbhajan in Khem Karan on Tuesday.
On the next day, a broken quadcopter drone was recovered from the area of Van Tara Singh village in Khalra.
Sharing more details, Senior Superintendent of Police Sukhminder Singh Mann said investigations are on to ascertain the identity of Pakistan smugglers, who sent the consignment via drone, and also their Indian associates, who were to receive this air-dropped consignment of heroin.
According to officials, several people of Khakrai village had allegedly consumed alcohol on Saturday, after which three persons died on Saturday and Sunday. As the incident came to light, State Excise Minister Jagdish Devda assured strict action.
The required measures, including development of infrastructure like construction of roads, tunnels and strategic railway lines, are taken to safeguard the sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of India, the minister said.
He paid homage to the indomitable courage and sacrifice of the Indian Armed Forces personnel during the Kargil conflict in 1999 by laying a wreath at the Dagger War Memorial in Baramulla during a solemn ceremony.
In a report submitted to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry, the Delhi Government has stated that the minimum environmental flow for dilution of the polluted water in the Yamuna in Delhi will be required to meet the desired water quality levels in the river for bathing.
The farmers have rejected the meagre compensation awarded by the district revenue officers (DROs), who have been designated as competent authority for land acquisitions.
