Chandigarh, March 28 In four separate incidents along the International Bor[1]der in Punjab, the Border Security Force shot down a drone, apprehended two persons and seized weapons and narcotics. “During the intervening night of March 27-28, BSF troops detected intrusion by a drone in the Ramtirath area of Amritsar sector. Counter-drone measures were taken and a search operation was launched. The troops apprehended two persons along with three packets containing 3.22 kg heroin near Bachiwind vil[1]lage,” a BSF officer said. On March 28 around 3.13 am, BSF troops sensed the presence of a miscreant ahead of the border fence and heard the sound of something being thrown over the border fence near Natha Singh Wala village in Fazilka district. Troops fired at the miscreant, but he managed to flee. Later, two packets, suspected to con[1]tain 2 kg heroin, a Chinese[1]made pistol, a magazine and eight bullets were found in the area, the officer said. In the third incident, the BSF troops deployed along the border detected a drone intrusion in the Rajatal Border Outpost area of Amritsar sec[1]tor on March 27 around 8.30 pm. The drone was fired upon. On Tuesday morning, a drone and a bag were found around 700 m away from the Interna[1]tional Border and 350 m from the border fence. A packet con[1]taining 2 kg heroin and a torch were found in the bag. Yet another drone intrusion was noticed near the Attari joint check post on March 27 around 8.20 pm. Troops fired at the drone and during a search in the area, a packet containing 2 kg contraband, suspected to be heroin, was found at Hardo Rattan village on Tuesday morning

28 DRONES SEIZED IN 3 YEARS: MHA ■ As many as 28 drones were shot down or recovered, which were being used by anti-national elements to smuggle arms and narcotics from Pakistan to Punjab in the past three years, Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home Nisith Pramanik informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. ■ Replying to a written question in the House, Pramanik said the BSF had been maintaining effective domination in the border areas by carrying out round-the-clock surveillance that included patrolling, laying nakas, manning observation posts all along the International Border. ■ The BSF was also in the process of procurement of more anti-drone systems to be installed in Punjab on the Indo-Pakistan border for which trials are going on, the minister said <