Drones carry narcotics, arms and improvised explosive devices, Agarwal said in Hazaribagh on Thursday during the annual news conference on the eve of BSF raising day.
Punjab has a 553 km border with Pakistan and smuggling of narcotics through the land border from Pakistan has been a cause of major concern. The National Investigation Agency is probing the nexus between narcotic smugglers and gangsters. The number of drone sightings on the India-Pakistan border has increased to 300, compared to 268 in 2022, 109 in 2021, 49 in 2020 and 35 in 2019, all within a range of 2-10 km on the border. BSF guards the international border with Pakistan in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.
“We have seized about 1,000 kg of heroin from along the eastern (India-Bangladesh) and western front (India-Pak border) over the last year. BSF has also deployed a hand-held static and vehicle-mounted anti-drone system to counter increasing threat of drones on the Indo-Pak border,” the DG said.
“The drones that we shoot down and seize are largely made in China and mostly Chinese DJI,” he said.