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 shooters have been identified as Sunil Masih, Ravinder, Pradeep Singh, Manjinder, Sukhman Singh, Sandeep, Major Singh, Aprail Singh, Balwinder, Salinder Singh, Satpal, Devinderpal Singh and Satwant Singh. All are history-sheeters and have been facing criminal cases, including murder, attempt to murder, extortion, and arms smuggling
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday conducted search operations in Punjab's Ludhiana, Ferozpur and Gurdaspur in connection with a case related to the seizure of IEDs and ammunition from Batrara Toll Plaza in Haryana's Karnal.
PM Modi will be visiting the UAE after attending the G7 Summit, and will be travelling to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on June 28 to pay his personal condolences on the passing away of H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the former UAE President and Abu Dhabi Ruler.
In 1984, Bhupendra Singh and Rakshpal Singh were burnt alive in Nirala Nagar, while Satveer Singh, son of Sardar Gurudayal Singh, was shot dead. A total of 127 Sikhs were killed in the riots in the aftermath of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination by her security personnel.
During the course of investigation, the team collected bank account details of the beneficiary accounts and details of the alleged calling numbers were obtained. During further enquiry, it was revealed that the accused were using fake SIM cards for making calls to the complainant. The bank details were analysed and a trail was followed.
Army chief, General Manoj Pande, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal V.R. Chaudhari, and Navy chief, Admiral R Hari Kumar met the PM at his residence separately. As per reports, all the three apprised him about the successful rollout of the recently-launched scheme and the induction process.