Police give description of the drone brought down by them in Jammu
By: Muzamil Bhat CK
Srinagar
Police have said that they have examined the parts of the drone shot down by them and have found interesting details of its assembly. Police shot down the drone in the Akhnoor sector of Jammu and said that after they had a detailed examination they found the details.
Police said that this drone was assembled and made in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, the Inspector General of Police Jammu range, Mukesh Singh told media.
He said, in the past one and half year Jammu and Kashmir Police have recovered ammunition dropped through 25 drones. The payload is dropped by militant organizations Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish Mohammad through drone sorties.
“We got specific input last night that Jaish Mohammad is going to drop a payload through a drone in the Akhnoor sector. On this specific information, a Jammu and Kashmir Police team reached there and laid an ambush. At around 1 a.m. one drone was spotted. The police fired at the drone when the latter lowered its height to drop the payload. The drone was carrying a payload of 5 kg weight and it was packed. It was carrying an IED. Only the wires of the IED were to be connected to create an explosion,” IGP Jammu said in the press conference.
According to the Outlook in its report, the IED dropped through the drone was covered in good packing and it was supposed to pick up their contact, he said. “But before that, we shot down the drone. We have placed an anti-drone system at vital places. We have secured VIPs and others. Drones are posing a threat and we are working to tackle this threat,” he said. He said with the shooting down of this drone a huge incident has been averted and further drone sorties through this drone had been stopped.
The security forces have recovered 16 AK-47 rifles, three M4 USA-made rifles, 34 pistols, 15 grenades, and three IEDs dropped through the drones, so far. He said through some drone sorties currency was also dropped. “We have recovered around Rs 4 lakh,” he said.
The Jammu Police chief said the preliminary analysis of the drone indicates that it is a hexacopter having six fans with a flight controller and GPS intact. “Interestingly, the serial number of the flight controller of this drone has the only one-digit difference with a drone which dropped in Kathua a year ago. This shows militants organizations operating from across have got several flight controllers of one series of drones and they place them at different drones and send them to this side,” Singh said.
“The preliminary inquiry states that the drone is an assembled drone having some parts from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The drone’s payload is dropped through a string and the string of this drone matches the string of the payload dropped at the Jammu Airbase on June 27. This shows the payload at Jammu Airbase was dropped through a drone,” he said.
He said usually such drones travel for around 20 km and have a payload capacity of 10 to 12 kg. However, if the payload capacity is more, its range decreases.
“Earlier when they would drop AK-47 through drones they would drop it 12 to 13 km inside (the border),” he said.
With inputs from Outlook
