2 narco smugglers held, drone, heroin recovered
BSF
) troops have arrested two narco smugglers in Tarn Taran and also recovered a drone in Ferozepur.
A BSF spokesperson informed here on Sunday, early this morning, the troops launched a search operation near Kalsian village in Tarn Taran after detecting drone activity in the area.
During the operation, two smugglers, hiding in a paddy field, were apprehended.
Based on their disclosure, a packet of heroin weighing approximately 610 grams — wrapped in yellow adhesive tape, indicative of a drone drop — was recovered from a nearby irrigated field, said the spokesperson.
In a separate operation Saturday evening, the BSF troops recovered a DJI Mavic 3 Classic drone from a farming field near Barreke village in Ferozepur district.
This is not the first time the BSF has made some seizures.
In fact, several attempts have been made by Pakistani smugglers to send over drugs and firearms from across the border with the help of drones. While anti-drone technology has helped thwart such attempts by Pakistani smugglers, they continue to carry out the illicit activity. They often rope in people living along border villages in India to distribute their contrabands forward, according to security agencies.
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Biometric records of Pakistan's National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), voter identity slips and digital satellite phone data, including logs and GPS waypoints, are among the clinching evidence gathered by the security agencies confirming the Pakistani nationality of the three terrorists, the officials said. They said the post-encounter investigation, including ballistics weapon-to-cartridge match and statements of two detained Kashmiri helpers, corroborated the terrorists' involvement in the Pahalgam attack. "For the first time, we have government-issued Pakistani documents in hand that nail the nationality of the Pahalgam attackers beyond doubt," a senior official said. Forensic, documentary and testimonial evidence collected during and after 'Operation Mahadev' conclusively shows that all three attackers were Pakistani nationals and senior LeT operatives who had been hiding in the Dachigam-Harwan forest belt since the day of the attack, the officials said, adding that no Kashmiri was part of the shooting team. The slain terrorists were identified as Suleman Shah alias "Faizal Jatt", an A++ category terrorist, mastermind and lead shooter; his close associate Abu Hamza alias 'Afghan', an A-grade commander and the second gunman; and Yasir alias 'Jibran', also an A-grade commander and the third gunman, the officials said. Along with weapons, the security forces recovered Pakistani government-issued documents, such as two laminated voter slips issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan, from the pockets of Shah and Hamza, they said. According to the officials, the voter serial numbers correspond to electoral rolls in Lahore (NA-125) and Gujranwala (NA-79), respectively. The officials said the NADRA-linked Smart-ID chips -- a micro-SD recovered from a damaged sat-phone contained the NADRA biometric records (fingerprints, facial template, family tree) of all three men -- confirming their Pakistani citizenship and addresses in Changa Manga (Kasur district) and Koiyan village near Rawalakot, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Pakistan-manufactured personal items like wrappers of 'CandyLand' and 'ChocoMax' chocolates (both brands produced in Karachi) were found in the same rucksack that carried spare magazines, the officials said, adding that lot numbers printed on wrappers were traced to a May 2024 consignment shipped to Muzaffarabad, PoK. On forensic and technical confirmation, the officials said, the 7.62x39 mm casings found in Baisaran were test-fired against the three AK-103 rifles seized on July 28 and the striation marks matched 100 per cent while mitochondrial profiles extracted from blood on a torn shirt found in Pahalgam were identical to the DNA of the three bodies of the terrorists. The terrorists crossed the Line of Control (LoC) through north Kashmir's Gurez sector in May 2022, when the intelligence intercepts placed their radio check-in from the Pakistani side, the officials said. On April 21, they moved into a 'dhok' (seasonal hut) at Hill Park, 2 km from Baisaran, as was stated by two detained helpers, Parvaiz and Bashir Ahmad Jothar, who sheltered them overnight and provided them cooked food before they trekked to Baisaran the next day to carry out the attack. 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Pahalgam attack: Agencies identify terrorists' handler in Pakistan, trace their route from Baisaran to Dachigam
Following the 'Operation Mahadev' last week, Indian security agencies have identified the handler of three terrorists as Pakistan-based Sajid Saifullah Jatt of Lashkar-e-Taiba. The agencies have assessed that those killed in the encounter were part of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam in April. read more Indian paramilitary soldiers stand guard as police and army soldiers launch an operation in Awantipora area, south of Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, on Wednesday, May 6, 2020. (Photo: Dar Yasin/AP) Following the 'Operation Mahadev' last week, Indian security agencies have identified the handler of terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack and traced the route that those terrorists took, according to a report. On July 28, the Indian Army said it killed three terrorists in the Dachigam area of Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar. Those were later said to be involved in attack in J&K's Pahalgam's Baisaran meadow in which they killed 26 people. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The CNN-News 18 has reported that Indian agencies have now identified Sajid Saifullah Jatt, the south Kashmir operations chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), as the key handler based in Lahore, Pakistan. The report said that the agencies have also confirmed the terrorists' link to Pakistan and LeT through funeral prayers of those killed in Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK), which were coordinated by Rizwan Anees of LeT. The agencies believe that the evidence leaves no doubt that the three persons killed in Dachigam, who they have identified as Suleman Shah (alias Faizal Jatt), Abu Hamza (alias 'Afghan"), and Yasir (alias 'Jibran") were Pakistani nationals and part of the LeT. How agencies confirmed link to Pakistan The evidence found from three terrorists in Dachigam contains voter ID cards and a NADRA card, which are the Pakistani equivalent of Aadhaar card, according to CNN-News 18. The agencies have found that these cards have been tied to electoral rolls in Lahore and Gujranwala, confirming the Pakistani identities of those killed in Dachigam, according to the report. The agencies have flagged the presence of Pakistan-made chocolate as further proof of Pakistani roots of terrorists. As for the route they took, the agencies have assessed that they crossed into India near Gurez and were later sheltered in a seasonal hut near Pahalgam by two Kashmiri men —Parvaiz and Bashir Ahmad Jothar— who later confessed to aiding them, the report said. GPS data from a Garmin device recovered from one of them and call logs from a Huawei satellite phone established their movements and linkages to operational control in Pakistan, the report said.
