Five days after busting a drone module with Pakistani links in Amritsar, the Punjab Police on Sunday seized 11 hand grenades allegedly dropped on the night of 19 December by a drone launched from Pakistan, which was engaged and shot at jointly by police and Border Security Force (BSF) personnel close to the border in Gurdaspur district.
Giving this information, Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta said that the shocking seizures came even as a police team, investigating the December 14 drone module case of Amritsar (Rural) district, arrested two Delhi-based ‘suppliers/assemblers’ of drones, taking the total number of arrests in the case to eight, including the 4 jailed, who were found connected with the case.
Four drones, 1 partially constructed drone, video transmitter system, drone hardware and other crucial evidence has been recovered in the case, in which investigations so far have revealed key linkages between Pakistan-based entities who were actively involved in the latest drone module as well as the earlier two modules, DGP said. Further technical analysis and investigation are being conducted to unravel the nexus of the accused with Pakistan-based smugglers, including their links with terrorist outfits, he added.
Sharing more details of the Saturday incident, DGP Dinkar Gupta said the Punjab Police mounted a search operation immediately after receiving information from the BSF about drone movement across the India-Pakistan border in Gurdaspur district. BSF personnel deployed at BOP Chakri in Gurdaspur sector had noticed a Pak drone entering Indian territory around 11:30 pm, and BSF troops immediately fired multiple shots in an attempt to bring down the drone.
At the same time, the BSF personnel alerted the Gurdaspur police about the incident, and SHO P.S. Dorangla immediately reached the area and deployed cops to engage the drone. A search and combing operation was mounted in the area on Sunday morning, leading to the recovery of a plastic box containing 11 Arges-84 Hand grenades from near Dhussi Bandh, in the area of Salach village, PS Dorangla, DGP said.
DGP further said that investigations into the 14 December drone module case have led to the arrest of Lucky Dhawan, based in Delhi, from whom the prime arrested accused, Lakhbir Singh, had bought the quadcopter drone along with the SkyDroid T10 2.4GHz 10CH FHSS Transmitter with mini receiver and camera support. According to Dinkar Gupta, Lucky Dhawan further revealed that the drone supplied to Lakhbir Singh was assembled by Baldev Singh, again a Delhi resident.
Further investigations have revealed the names of three key Pakistan-based entities—Chishti, Malik and Maqsood—who were in contact with the arrested accused, Dinkar Gupa said.