Jammu, July 23: Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Mukesh Singh Friday said that Jammu police have shot-down a ‘Hexa-Copter’ operated by the Jaish e Mohammad outfit near Akhnoor area of the border laden with 5 kilograms of Improvised Explosive Device (IED) he said “was to be planted somewhere for explosion in Jammu by the receiver who did not turn-up”.
Following information about a drone flying over the border belt of Kanachak along the International Border (IB) on Thursday night, a quick reaction team (QRT) of the police swung into action and shot it down using anti-drone strategy, a police official said.
The drone was flying about seven to eight kilometres inside the border, the officials said, adding that it had six big wings and was a tetra-copter.
Following inputs, he said, the Jammu Police team reached there, and they laid an ambush. Around 1 AM last night, one drone was sighted by the police which dropped the payload of 5 KG IED, the ADGP said.
“It was a ready to use IED which only required to be connected with a wire to get it active to trigger an explosion,” he added.
Singh said that preliminary analyses suggest it was a Hexa-Copter which has a flight controller, and a GPS.
He further said that the flight controller’s serial number and the serial number of the drone which was shot down in Kathua a year back had only one digit’s difference “which means that the militant groups have got many drones of one serial.”
He said that the drone was assembled using parts made in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The ADGP further 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 pay-load was dropped in the airport through the drone.
He said that the detailed analyses of Kathua’s drone drop suggested that drones can carry 10-12 kg of weight.
Its range reduces if the payload capacity is more, he said.
Quoting an example, the ADGP said that AK 47 rifles were dropped within the range of 12-13 km.
In the last year and half, the ADGP said that 16 AK rifles, 3 M4 US made rifles, 34 pistol, 15 grenades, 18 IED (15 small and 3 big IEDs). Besides, two other sorties carried currency while they have recovered Rs 4 lakh cash also.
He further added that 25-30 drone sorties material has been seized in last year and half 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.
The ADGP said that for Independence Day on August 15, police has made all preparedness and secured vital installation, protected persons and minority community protection.
“There is a drone threat, but preventive measures are being taken,” he said in response to a question on security measures ahead of August 15.
He said that they have inputs about militant activities and are working on them to prevent any kind of militant attack.