BSF seeks another battalion for Punjab border

Chandigarh: The Border Security Force (BSF) has sought deployment of additional battalions to check smuggling and infiltration of drugs and weapons through drones from across the border in Punjab’s territory along the Indo-Pak border.

The BSF currently has around 20 battalions to guard the 500-km-long border. Of these, 18 battalions are actively deployed along the border while the remaining two battalions are deployed at the Attari Integrated Check Post in Amritsar and the Kartarpur Corridor at Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district as per requirement.

The smuggling of arms and drugs through drones started in 2019-20, mainly from the border districts of Amritsar and Tarn Taran along the international border.

Another battalion of the BSF has been requisitioned to secure the Punjab border in a better way, a senior official told PTI. The official said the request made by them is actively pending with the Union Home Ministry.

Inspector General of BSF’s Punjab Frontier Atul Fulzele had recently said that the drug coming to Punjab from the Pakistan border side now comes through drones instead of the land route.

According to official figures, security agencies have recovered more than 120 drones so far this year as compared to 107 last year.