Early Times Report
Kathua , July 24: APakistani drone flying along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district was shot down by the Border Security Force (BSF) in June.
The drone, which was shot down by a BSF patrol, has been sent for forensic examination to the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) and the case has been handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) recently. “The heavy drone was manually handled from across the Border Outpost Pansar (BOP) Pansar. A drone usually has an inbuilt mechanism with longitude and latitude. But in this case, deliberate manipulation was done as this drone did not give away its location of origin.” Hence, the NTRO has been roped in, while the anti-terror probe agency awaits its report,” top officials said, who is handling the case.
There will also be forensic analysis to compare drones found in Punjab to the one found in Kathua, sources said. The patrolling party of BSF from 19 Battalion on June 20 had spotted a Pakistani drone flying in the Rathua area of Hiranagar sector and fired eight rounds to shoot it down.
The six-copter drone weighed around 17.5 kilograms and the consignment weighed around five to six kilograms. According to sources, there was a Chinese imprint on the drone. However, it had been assembled with different components which belonged to different companies, sources added. Hence, the case is being probed by NTRO to give a clear picture to NIA.
“The drone was flown around 5.10 am on June 20. There was also a lot of noise emanating from it giving away its location. While the NIA believes that BSF shot down the drone. However, if the BSF copter had chased the drone, it could have been easier to trace the culprit. NIA sleuths are relying on technical intelligence, including analysing call data records, to find out for who the consignment was meant,” said an NIA official. Meanwhile, similar weapons were recovered from Jaish-e-Mohammad militants who were killed in an encounter at Ban toll plaza in Nagrota, Jammu and Kashmir after making infiltrating attempts from Pakistan several months ago, sources said.
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