High-security alert after multiple movements of aerial vehicles on LoC

Rajouri, Feb 16: A high-security alert for aerial surveillance has been sounded on the Line of Control in the twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch after army troops picked up movement of multiple aerial vehicles in the area and also opened fire to bring them down.

This was the third time in the last four days that such a movement of aerial vehicles was reported on the Line of Control (LoC).

As per reports, in the wee hours of Friday, army troops guarding LoC in the Balnoi area of Mendhar in Poonch's Krishna Ghati sector picked up suspicious movement of two ‘aerial vehicles’ on the Line of Control.

“Both these aerial vehicles, believed to be quadcopters, were hovering near LoC which otherwise is a restricted zone,” official sources said.

They said that soon after picking their movement, army troops on LoC opened fire towards these aerial vehicles, which promptly returned towards the PoJK side.

In a similar incident, the movement of an aerial vehicle, again believed to be a quadcopter, was picked up on Line of Control (LoC) in the Gulpur area of Poonch sector on Friday morning.

The official sources said that the aerial vehicle, which is used both for recce as well as dropping of consignment of arms and ammunition besides narcotics, also returned to PoJK side after firing by army troops.

Earlier, on Wednesday, a similar movement of an aerial vehicle was reported from the Line of Control in the Nowshera sector area of the Rajouri district while on February 12 such movement was reported from the Balnoi area after which army troops manning the Line of Control (LoC) fired towards the aerial vehicle or drone, which however flew back towards PoJK side of LoC.

Meanwhile, keeping in view these incidents of multiple movements of aerial vehicles, a high-security alert has been sounded on the Line of Control and the troops manning the LoC have been asked to be in ‘ready mode’ to thwart any movement of drones.