Indian Border Security Force (BSF) will receive technological up-gradation with 436 small and micro drones for border surveillance along India-Bangladesh and India-Pakistan border besides getting and an indigenously developed anti-drone system.
With the new full-time Director General Rakesh Asthana taking over, all 1923 border outposts guarded by BSF on Pakistan and Bangladesh border will be equipped with sensors, CCTV and drone feeds under the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management (CIBM) plan.
BSF is India’s first line of defense with Pakistan and Bangladesh and guards around 2,280 kilometers of the front with Pakistan and the 4,096-km-long Indo-Bangla border.
Asthana also holds the charge of Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). A common strategy is expected to be adopted between BSF and NCB to charge big cross border drug mafias as the narcotic trade funds and the cross border weapons smuggling and terrorism has increased both in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.
As per a report in HT, senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that the cost of small and micro drones will come around Rs 88 crore. The BSF with the help of security agencies is also conducting anti-drone tests along the India-Pakistan border to shoot down any drone carrying weapon-load for terrorists in Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir.
The drone feeds will be from the sector headquarters with as many as 1,500 posts (as rest are in remote locations). It will help to fly the drone to recce the border and use the anti-drone system to shoot any weapon pay-load transportation from across.
As per several media reports, BSF recently recovered over 9kg of heroin and several weapons from the five Pakistani intruders who were shot dead along the India-Pakistan International border. The BSF spokesperson said that after suspicious activity was noticed near the border fence, the force personnel “cordoned the area and challenged the intruders to stop and surrender”.
“The Pakistani armed intruders did not pay any heed to the challenge and opened fire on the BSF troops,” the official said.
The Indian BSF has also alerted that “[Pakistan’s] Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) plans to pump in a massive consignment of drugs/arms/ammunitions inside India with the help of drones”. BSF’s intelligence wing has also alerted the security forces that Pakistan will use using drones to bomb security establishments near the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir’s RS Pura and Samba sectors.
