Security at Amritsar airport beefed up after drone crash

A week after the Punjab Police found arms drop by drones along the Indo-Pakistan border in Punjab, the government has stepped up security at the Amritsar's Guru Ramdas International airport, sources said on Tuesday.

A senior government source told "The security at the Amritsar airport has been beefed up following the recovery of drones along the India-Pak border."

The source said, the Indian Air Force (IAF) earlier last week issued the orange alert following the recovery of the drones from the border area.

"So keeping in mind the security threat to the Amritsar airport, snipers have been placed at the watch towers and other important places at the airport along with the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF)," the source said.

He said, the security was beefed up three to four days ago. "And the high security at the airport will remain for next four to five days," he added.

A total of eight terrorists were arrested till September 27. Investigations so far has revealed that Pakistan-based terror outfits have been smuggling arms into Punjab through  drones since August.

Revelations by arrested militants of the Khalistan Zindabad Force led to recovery of a China-made drone, the second one that was used to airdrop arms and ammunition from Pakistan into India's Punjab, from a village close to the border in Amritsar district on Friday.

A team of the state's counter-intelligence wing took militants Akashdeep Singh and Shubhdeep Singh to Mahawa village in Amritsar district, where they had hidden the drone in bushes.

Shubhdeep Singh was arrested on Thursday. He was the seventh person arrested in the case. During interrogation, the militants revealed that four drones that were used to airdrop the weapons were hidden in the border Tarn Taran district.

The police are still trying to ascertain whether the recovered drone is among the four, whose presence was revealed by the militants during the interrogation.

Earlier, police had recovered a drone, that crashed in the Indian territory and found it fitted with high-end technology and GPS.

The Indian Army and the Border Security Force have also sounded an all-out alert along the international border after reports of the drones.

According to an Intelligence source, China-made drones are capable of carrying a 10 kg payload each, made at least eight sorties this month to drop weapons, counterfeit currency and communications equipment across the heavily-guarded border in once-militant hotbed Punjab, an intelligence official said.

Cracking down subsequently, the police this week busted a module of the revived Khalistan Zindabad Force, the Pakistan-backed, Germany-based militant group that was conspiring to unleash a series of terrorist strikes in Punjab and adjoining states, especially Jammu and Kashmir, in Tarn Taran district. A cache of arms was also seized.

The teams of SSOC and Counter-Intelligence arrested four terrorists of Khalistan Zindabad Force and seized five AK-47 rifles, magazines, satellite phone and fake currency of Rs 10 lakh from their possession.