Amritsar (Punjab) [India], April 22 (ANI): In a major crackdown on cross-border narco-trafficking, Border Security Force (BSF) troops, in coordination with Punjab Police, recovered four Pakistani drones and significant quantities of suspected heroin from border areas of Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts, said officials on Monday.

According to BSF officials, the recoveries were made during a series of search operations based on specific intelligence inputs and routine surveillance duties.

In the first incident, a joint search operation by BSF and Punjab Police led to the recovery of a DJI Mavic-3 Classic drone at around 7.00 pm on Sunday from a harvested field near the village of Dal in the Tarn Taran district.

In a different operation earlier on Monday, at approximately 12:10 pm, BSF troops recovered another DJI Mavic-3 Classic drone, along with a packet of suspected heroin weighing approximately 572 grams, during a security operation near the village of Daoke in the Amritsar district.

Later in the afternoon, at around 3.45 pm, a DJI Matrice 350 RTK drone and a large packet of suspected heroin weighing around 3.240 kg were recovered during a joint operation from a harvested field near the village of Burj in Amritsar.

In another operation based on specific intelligence, BSF troops recovered a DJI Mavic 3 Classic drone and a packet of suspected heroin weighing 525 grams from a harvested field near the village of Naushera Dhalla in the Tarn Taran district.

All recovered drones are believed to have malfunctioned due to technical interference caused by counter-drone measures deployed by BSF along the India-Pakistan border.

The BSF stated that these successes were possible due to reliable intelligence inputs, electronic safeguards, and the relentless efforts of security personnel, effectively foiling multiple cross-border smuggling attempts.

Further investigations are ongoing.

Earlier, Border Security Force (BSF) troops recovered three Pakistani drones along with 157 kilograms of heroin in multiple operations in an intelligence-based operation and apprehended one Indian narco-smuggler, an official said.

'In a major success against cross-border narco-trafficking, BSF troops, acting on specific intelligence, recovered 03 Pakistani drones and 1.57 kg of heroin in multiple operations across Amritsar, Tarn Taran, and Ferozepur. 01 Indian narco-smuggler was also apprehended,' Public Relations Officer (Punjab Frontier) said in a release on Sunday evening. (ANI)