24.7.21

Drone Carrying 5kg IED Shot Down in Jammu

The Jammu and Kashmir police claim to have shot down a hexa-copter drone carrying 5 kg of IED, in the wee hours of Friday in Kanachak border area of Akhnoor in Jammu.

Police were alerted that Jaish-e-Muhammad planned to drop a payload with the help of a drone in Akhnoor area of Jammu. “After receiving specific inputs, we had placed an ambush at a location in Akhnoor area… At around 1 am, a drone was spotted, which lowered the flying height to drop the payload. Our police team fired at it and shot it down…recovering around 5kg of neatly packed IED,” said Mukesh Singh, Additional Director General of Police, Jammu Zone. Police claim that the receiver of the IED didn’t turn up at the spot.

Preliminary analysis revealed that it was a hexa-copter with a flight controller and GPS installed on it. “Interestingly, the serial number of the flight controller was just one digit different from the drone sent to Kathua district of Jammu last year,” said Singh, revealing a link between the drone sorties and the sender. “This shows that the drone has been sent by the same organisation across the border. They have bought flight controllers of the same series and are installing them on different drones to send arms and ammunition across,” Singh said. Police claim that the drone was assembled, as its parts were manufactured in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

According to the police, these drones can travel up to 20 km and carry weight of around13-15 kg. “The range of the drone decreases with the increase in payload,” said Singh.

The IED was neatly packed and just needed to be connected with wires to execute a blast. “We have managed to avert a major attack in Jammu and other attacks that this IED would have been used for,” said Singh.

The string with which the IED payload was attached with this drone was similar to that of the drone recovered at the Air Force station blast site in Jammu in June, police said.

Ever since the Air Force station attack on June 27, several drone activities were reported around sensitive security installation along the Line of Control and the international border in Jammu. The J&K administration has already placed a ban on the sale, purchase, possession of drones or any other flying objects in some districts of J&K including Srinagar, Kathua and Kupwara. The owners of drones have been directed to deposit their drones at the nearest police stations.

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