Chandigarh, Nov 29 (IANS) The Border Security Force (BSF) on Tuesday shot down a drone from Pakistan that entered Punjab's Amritsar district, foiling another smuggling attempt.
This was the second intrusion by a drone in two days in the region.
The troops fired at the drone after they noticed it entered the Indian territory near the Chaharpur village, some 40 km from Amritsar city.
The BSF recovered one hexacopter, an unmanned aerial vehicle, in a partial damaged condition along with white-colour polythene tagged with it, a BSF official said.
The BSF has spotted over 200 unmanned aerial vehicles in Punjab, a marked increase from 45 and 65 in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
It has shot down at least 13 drones this year, six in the past two months.
The passenger reached at terminal number 3 on August 6. He was intercepted after he had crossed the Green Channel and was approaching towards the exit gate. On thorough checking of his baggage, nothing suspicious was found.
The operation was carried out in all seven border districts of Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Batala, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur and Fazilka. Major focus of this operation was to keep vigil on movement of drones carrying drugs and arms, ammunition, explosives and grenades in the border areas, an official statement said.
The passenger was intending to fly to Dubai by flight IX-141 from T3 on Thursday. Offloaded on the basis of suspicion, the man and his luggage was checked and the US currency recovered from plastic thread roll in his trolley bag.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday laid the foundation stone for the Sant Attar Singh State Institute of Medical Sciences at Mastuana Sahib in Sangrur district to come up over an area of 25 acres with an estimated cost of nearly Rs 345 crore.
The Customs officials at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow have found six gold bars in a dustbin near the immigration area at the airport. The confiscated gold bars are valued at Rs 36.60 lakh in the market.
Of the arrested trio, one was caught with 250 gms Mephedrone valued at Rs 37.50 lakh and the other with 2.70 kgs of Mephedrone worth Rs 4.14 crore in the market. After sustained interrogation, the woman accused revealed details on their two associates of whom one was picked up late on Tuesday (August 2) and the fifth was caught with the narcotics consignment on Wednesday (August 3).
