J&K police shoot down drone with magnetic bombs along border

The Jammu and Kashmir police shot down a drone carrying seven magnetic bombs and just as many Under Barrel Grenade Launchers (UBGL) grenades coming from across the border in Talli Hariya Chak of Hira Nagar sector in Kathua district of Jammu on Sunday.

"Today early morning, the search party observed a #NorthKorea drone coming from the #border side and fired at it. The drone was shot down. It has a payload attachment with it which is being screened by the bomb disposal experts,” Police Media Centre Jammu tweeted.

“On the basis of #drone activity observed in the area of Talli Hariya chak under police station #Rajbag in district #Kathua, Early morning search party of police was being regularly sent in the general area,” it said and added seven Magnetic bombs and seven UBGL grenades were recovered from the drone.

Army and police maintain that drones were being largely used along the International Border in Jammu by the Pakistanis to drop weapons and drugs.

Last year on June 27, in the first case of the use of unmanned aerial vehicles by militants to target a security installation in Jammu and Kashmir, two explosives-laden drones crashed into the Indian Air Force (IAF) station at Jammu airport damaging the roof of a building.

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.

Of late Pakistan has been procuring armed drones from China and Turkey. Since 2020, there has been a spurt in airdropping of weapons by drones and smuggling of narcotics along the border in Jammu.