Jammu Police shoots down Hexa-Copter in Akhnoor

Jammu: Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Mukesh Singh, said that Jammu police shot down a Jaish operated Hexa-Copter in Akhnoor during the interning night of Thursday and Friday, and recovered 5 KG IEDs which were to be planted somewhere for explosion.

The drone was found flying over the Kana Chak border belt in Akhnoor on the night intervening Thursday and Friday, following which a Quick Reaction Team shot it down using anti-drone technology, an officer in the police department said. “It was flying around 7 to 8 km inside the border,” the officer said.

   

The ADGP said that with the shooting down of this drone, Jammu police have averted a major act of militancy in Jammu.

Speaking at a press conference, ADGP Mukesh Singh, who is also the Inspector General of Police, Jammu Zone, said that they had specific input about the dropping of payload (IED) by Jaish near Akhnoor.

Following inputs, he said, the Jammu Police team reached there, and they laid an ambush. “Around 1 AM (Friday), one drone was sighted by the police, which dropped payload of 5 KG IED. It was a ready to use IED which only required to be connected with a wire to get active to trigger an explosion,” the IG said.

Quoting preliminary analysis, he said: “We have come to know that it was a Hexa-Copter which has a flight controller and a GPS. Interestingly, the flight controller’s serial number and the serial number of the drone which was shot down in Kathua a year back has only one digit difference which means that the militant groups have got many drones of one serial,” he said.

He said that “the drone was assembled using parts made in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong”.

He said: “The payload is dropped from the drone through a string and similar string seemingly was used in the Satwari Airport drone attack which confirms that the payload was dropped in the airport through the drone.”

He said the detailed analysis of Kathua drone drop suggested that drones can carry 10-12 kg of weight and its range reduces if the payload capacity is more.

In the last one and half years, the ADGP said: “16 AK rifles, 3 M4 US made rifles, 34 pistols, 15 grenades, 18 IED including 15 small and 3 big (were recovered), besides two other sorties carried currency and we have recovered Rs 4 lakh, so far.”

He said: “25-30 drone sorties material has been seized in the last one and half year, and many people have been arrested in this connection.”

During their questioning, he said, they came to know that “Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba were behind the drone droppings in Jammu to cause explosions or to send arms to Jaish and Lashkar operatives in Kashmir.”

For August 15, he said: “We have made all preparations and secured vital installations, protected persons protection and minority community protection.”

“There is a drone threat, but preventive measures are being taken,” he said while responding to a question in respect of security measures ahead of August 15. In airports anti-drone technology has been used and other places too, he said.

He said that they have inputs about militant activities. “We are working on them to prevent any kind of militant attack,” he added.

In reply to a question, he said that they have installed an anti-drone system in the airport and other installations which cannot be disclosed.

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