Reported by: ankur sharma
Last update: Mar 22, 2023, 09:13 am IST
Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh’s (centre) links have been traced to Pakistan-based cross-border drug traffickers such as Billa, Bilal and Rana, among others. (Image: PTI/File)
Central intelligence agencies said the Khalistan supporter was locally managing supplies of arms, ammunition and drugs in close coordination with people in Pakistan, fueling smuggling to disrupt law and order in Punjab.
The year 2022 saw the largest movement of drones carrying drugs to Punjab from Pakistan, and central agencies suspect the threat is related to the arrival in the state of Khalistan sympathizer Amritpal Singh.
According to data accessed by News18, last year the Border Security Force, which tackles the threat of drones, noted 256 drone movements in Punjab, 90 percent of which were within Indian territory. According to the data, the drone movements noticed by BSF in 2021 were 67.
The data also reveals that the Jammu border saw an increase in drone movement last year, with a three-fold increase in total sighting cases.
Meanwhile, central intelligence agencies link the rise to Amritpal Singh’s entry into Punjab after spending nearly a decade in Dubai.
Sources said Singh’s links have been traced to Pakistan-based cross-border drug dealers such as Billa, Bilal and Rana, among others. These traffickers are pumping drugs into India with the help of local criminals and villagers located closer to the border, they said.
Officials claim that thanks to Singh’s help, Punjab was receiving a regular supply of weapons, ammunition and drugs. The Khalistan supporter was locally managing supplies in close coordination with people in Pakistan, driving smuggling to disrupt law and order in Punjab.
Singh received drone weapons with the help of Pakistan’s ISI. While living in Dubai, which is the hub for ISI operatives, Singh contacted them and was motivated by money offered to challenge the Pakistani-backed Indian establishment, central intelligence agencies have found.
According to the data provided by BSF, Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Ferozpur recorded the highest number of drone movements. Interestingly, Singh’s village is close to Amritsar and the agencies suspect that he had hired local criminals to deliver weapons, ammunition and drugs via drones. He was also in contact with officials based in Pakistan, as his cell phone number had several incoming calls from Pakistan starting with +92.
BSF recently said that a drone flew in June 2022 from Fengxian district in Shanghai, China, arrived in Pakistan, and after nearly six months, took off from the Pakistani side to India before being forcibly shot down.
Forensic analysis of the flight path carried out by BSF revealed that the seized drone had fingerprints in China and Pakistan.
More importantly, it showed that from September to December last year, the same drone made 28 separate rounds between different parts of Pakistan. However, the officials claim that the drone must have been flown for testing as it was Chinese-made and was later bought by someone from Pakistan from the Chinese supplier for shipment to India.
“BSF has been on the receiving end of the drone threat for quite some time. The versatility of the drone, which is well known, has given us problems with nefarious elements that have found new uses for the drone due to its anonymity and fast flight at a sufficient height without crossing borders”, said the general director of BSF last year. past. , revealing about the increase in drone movement.
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