3 magnetic IEDs packed in tiffin boxes brought down from drone along Jammu border

Ahead of the annual Amarnath pilgrimage, police shot down a Pakistani drone carrying three magnetic improvised explosive devices (IEDs) along the International Border (IB) in Kanachak sector of Akhnoor in Jammu on Monday night.

Police said the drone was shot down in Dayaran area of Kanachak shortly after it crossed over to the Indian side from across the IB.

“Yesterday night BSF observed a #drone activity in #Kanachak area and fired some shots towards the drone. Immediately #police party was deployed and they followed the anti drone #SOP in the general area,” Police Media Centre Jammu tweeted.

This was the fourth Pakistani drone with a payload of arms and ammunition being shot down by the forces in Jammu sector since June 2020.

“At around 11 pm at Dayaran area of Kanachak, police party observed the drone activity and fired at it again. The payload attached with the drone was brought down. However the drone could not be brought down,” it said.

“The payload contained three magnetic #IEDs packed inside children #tiffinbox with timer set to different timings of 3 hours , 8 hours etc. The #IED has been #deactivated and #diffused through #controlled #explosion,” the police said in another tweet.

Army and police maintain that drones were being largely used along the IB in Jammu, by the Pakistanis to drop weapons and drugs. The ability of drones to evade radar, wreak devastation at strategic installations and transport weapons to terrorists has become a new concern for the country’s security establishment.

The police have termed the recovery of magnetic bombs or sticky bombs a major challenge during this year’s annual yatra to the 3,880-metre-high holy cave shrine.

The 43-day-long pilgrimage is scheduled to begin on June 30 via two routes — the traditional 48-km course through Nunwan in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam and the 14-km route through central Kashmir’s Ganderbal.

In a first-of-its-kind seizure in February last year, the Border Security Force (BSF) had recovered a drone-dropped consignment of 14 IEDs with in-built magnets along the IB in Samba district.