Another Pakistani Drone Found In Punjab After Terror Accused Reveals Location; Search Ops Underway

Another Pakistani drone used to drop weapons for terrorist activity has been found in Punjab's Attari, across the border region on Friday, a senior Punjab police official said. This is the second such seizure in the state by police within a week. According to reports, the drone found was partially damaged and recovered in Mahawa village based on the information given by one of the four people the state police arrested on Sunday. They are allegedly part of a terror module of the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF). According to a report by news agency PTI, police official informed that due to a malfunction, the drone could not return to Pakistan and so the accused hid it in a village near the Attari border.  Earlier, the police had recovered a half-burnt drone on Tuesday from Tarn Taran. They had said it was also used to drop weapons from Pakistan to fuel unrest in Punjab and adjoining states. Akashdeep, one of the four arrestees whose interrogation led to the latest seizure, also accompanied a State Special Operations Cell (SSOC) team of the Punjab Police to the site from where the drone was recovered. Militants of KZF had revealed that four drones, from across the border, are hidden around Punjab’s Tarn Taran and its surrounding areas. Police officials said the second drone was damaged and it could not fly back to Pakistan after delivering the consignment of weapon. However, they did not show the drone to the media. The state police had on Sunday claimed to have busted the terror module of the KZF, which is backed by a group based in Pakistan and Germany. Four members of the module -- Balwant Singh alias Nihang, Akashdeep Singh alias Akash Randhawa, Harbhajan Singh and Balbir Singh -- were arrested near Chohla Sahib village in Tarn Taran. Five AK-47 rifles, 16 magazines and 472 rounds of ammunition, four Chinese-made 30 bore pistols, along with eight magazines and 72 rounds of ammunition; nine hand grenades, five satellite phones with their ancillary equipment, two mobile phones, two wireless sets and fake currency with the face value of Rs 10 lakh were recovered from them. (With additional inputs from PTI)