Pakistan drone sighted in Samba, search ops launched

JAMMU: Security forces launched a joint search operation Saturday after a suspected Pakistani drone was spotted hovering over vital establishments in Jammu & Kashmir's Samba district, officials said.

The drone was spotted moving west to east over a military establishment in the Bari Brahmana area around 9.35pm on Friday. An alert was immediately sounded, and Army's quick reaction teams were activated. Police were also informed, and a joint search operation was launched to ensure no weapons or narcotics were airdropped, they said.

The latest sighting comes after Kathua police busted an inter-state syndicate allegedly involved in collecting narcotics consignments from Pakistan airdropped via drones and smuggling them across the country, with the arrest of four persons from Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab on Sept 2.

Before that, security forces launched a search operation after six drones, allegedly from Pakistan, were spotted hovering near the Line of Control in Poonch on Aug 24.