Drones for cross border tunnels

Representative Image

The theory of thousand razor cuts to bleed India is supported by thousand-way outs also to export terrorism to India, Jammu and Kashmir being the prime target. The one hundred ninety-two kilometres of international border with Pakistan is the hotbed for terrorists, arms, ammunition, narcotics, fake currency, and gold smuggling, all part and parcel of Pakistan’s agenda to somehow weaken India. Indian agencies have also upgraded themselves accordingly with ultra-modern border fencing, thermal imagers, night vision devices, and laser walls, along with an age-old method of patrolling the border day and night. But it is not easy to have any system hundred per cent foolproof and somehow Pakistan has been able to sustain the supplies, men, arms and money though on a curtailed scale. Now even drones are being used to sustain the supply chain but the most innovative and secure way out tunnels. Once dug out they are the most reliable method of smuggling and not easy to detect as fields are there on both sides, making perfect camouflage for tunnels. Pakistan has been able to establish a reliable chain of OGWs who are prime contributors to this whole juggernaut. Unless detected these tunnels are a continuous contributor to men and arms smuggling. Detection of ten such tunnels in a decade, five in the last three years itself, is a serious enough situation for the security agencies. BSF has taken it as a challenge and innovations are on way to develop a foolproof method to discover these tunnels. The latest entrant is drones which have equipment fitted to use radio waves to detect underground tunnels. Anything susceptible to lead is taken seriously and is followed by a physical inspection of the suspected area. Drones have the additional benefit of being all-weather, capable of day or night operations with the least risk of our jawans being made a target by enemy’s crossfire, sharpshooters or threat of being ambushed. The technology is in the development stage and obviously with certain hiccups right now but over time, it will be foolproof for sure.