Punjab police begin probe to account for weapons smuggled from Pakistan by 2 drones

Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], Sept 27 (ANI): Punjab Police has launched a probe to account for the weapons consignment apparently smuggled into India from Pakistan across the border by the two drones recovered near the India-Pakistan border over the period of last month.
According to an official statement from the Punjab police, "Police teams are ascertaining the links of the terror groups involved in sending these drones from Pakistan."
A police spokesperson said that so far only two such drones had been recovered, one last month and the second in a burnt condition three days ago in Jhabal town in Tarn Taran district.
The clarification came in the wake of certain media reports referring to the recovery of another drone today, the official statement said.
The police spokesperson further said that the investigations so far suggest that several Pakistan-based terrorist groups were engaged in smuggling weapons into India since August, post the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
Both the recovered drones were apparently sent by different terror groups, linked with Pakistan's ISI, and the State-sponsored Jihadi and pro-Khalistani terrorist outfits working under its command, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said, "These recoveries had exposed that these outfits had managed to acquire the capacity to deliver various types of terrorist and communication hardware over drones."
The spokesperson said, "Police had stepped up its vigil at the border after the recovery of a crashed 'Hexacopter Drone' on August 13 from Mohawa village in Amritsar (Rural) district - a mere 1.5 kms from the border."
The official statement said, "The heightened vigil launched after the recovery of this drone led the police to the busting of a terror module consisting of Akashdeep Singh, and his associates, including Baba Balwant Singh, Harbhahan Singh, and Balbir Singh @ Binda."
"Subsequently, Shubhdeep Singh was also arrested for his involvement in the handling of a large consignment of weapons, including hand-grenades, satellite phones, wireless sets and other communication devices, which were recovered from the arrested persons," the statement said.
"Interrogation of the arrested men led to the recovery of the second, half-burnt drone, three days. Akashdeep has revealed that two 9 mm pistols had been smuggled over the half-burnt drone around the beginning of September. The drone had apparently crashed in the Indian territory before it could fly back to Pakistan after dropping arms near the Indo-Pak border," it added. (ANI)