JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday claimed to have achieved a major success by foiling a terror plot of Pakistan’s Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit and shooting down a drone carrying 5 kg of improvised explosive device (IED) material near Akhnoor area here in the city outskirts.
However, the string recovered from the drone was similar to those used in attacks at Air Force Station Jammu.
“Jammu police have shot down a hexa-copter carrying a payload of 5-kg IED material near Akhnoor area, the threads of which were similar as that of the one used for dropping payloads at Air Force Station Jammu,” Mukesh Singh, Additional Director General of Police, Jammu Zone told reporters here at a press conference.
The ADGP said that police had received a specific input that the JeM was planning to drop a payload through a drone near Akhnoor, adding, “At around 0100 hrs, police shot down the drone when it went down to drop the payload that was around 5 Kg IED material.”
“The drone payload was ready to be triggered after connecting with wires,” he said.
The parts of the drone were made in China, added the top cop.
Mr Singh said that the serial number of the flight controller used in the drone is just one digit different from the one drone that was earlier shot down at Aknoor some time back.
Preliminary analysis suggested that it was a hexa-copter with six wings fitted with a flight controller and GPS, the ADGP said and added that the packed IED was supposed to be dropped by drone and to be picked up by the receiver.
“We waited for the suspect but no one turned up,” he said.
The ADGP said that the drone shot down at Kathua is an assembled one with its parts manufactured from Taiwan and Hong-Kong.
On recent Air Force Station Jammu attacks, he said, “Strings recovered in today’s drone were the same as that of those used to drop the payloads at Air Force Station.
“Further investigations are on and it seems that JeM has assembled many drones with the same series and there is just a difference of one digit in the serial number of the one drone recovered earlier at Akhnoor and the one recovered this morning,” he said.
“The drones recovered in the recent past are being used to drop payloads including AK-47 rifles and IED material.
“Such drones can travel up to 20 km distance depending on the payload,” the ADGP said, adding that in the last one-and-a-half years, Police have recovered 16 AK-47 rifles, magazines, 15 grenades and 18 IEDs airdropped by the drones in the region. (Agencies)
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