Rashmi Talwar
Kakkar, Amritsar 28th April 2023—–.
Since the wee hours, the Border Security Forces were on high alert. It had specific information about a drone sortie from across the border at village Kakkar lining the Indo-Pak border in the Amritsar Sector.
Vigorous search operations were launched at the crack of dawn by the BSF. On the outskirts of the bordering village of Kakkar, falling in District Amritsar, BSF troops finally spotted 5-packets, allegedly possessing narcotics, identified by the luminous tapes attached to them. They were packed together as a single consignment and had metal rings on top, secured to the waterproof packing. The gross weight of the consignment was 8 Kg. According to a senior official of the BSF –“The consignment appears to have been dropped by a rogue drone”.
Queried over the find, he said –“There are metal rings on each of the consignments used to hang drug packets on the drone. The payload is then unlocked and released from a height. As many as eight luminous strips were found to be attached to the consignment. These strips help the smugglers to locate the consignment in the dark .” And laughed while further commenting – “It’s strange that they think that the luminous strips would be visible ‘only to smugglers and couriers’, the BSF too, gets help to intercept contraband packets via these very luminous strips!” The seizure today was worth about Rs 56 Crores in the international market.
Kakkar Border Village
Kakkar village, merely 25 Km from Amritsar city, is fenced with barbed wire on the Indian side. Although Kakkar, means robust, the word stirs in the memory of famous surnames lately having gained worldwide recognition like ace singer Neha Kakkar, Tony and Sonu Kakkar of the Kakkar singer family, Prahlad Kakkar- a noted ad film director; but unlike the famous personalities probably connected to this neck of the woods, this village on the borderline caught the limelight via its smuggling activities.
Sitting on the East of the bloody Radcliff line, the 1947’s Indo Pak Partition tore apart not just the people, their hearts, and territories; but the partition also created a nursery for illegal trade, smuggling, and spies along the International Border. From the nook for infiltration of spies, gold, arms, ammunition, terrorists, and fake currency, Kakkar has graduated to become the hub of a narcotic smuggling racket.
Sophisticated Drones
· Last year as many as six instances saw the use of DJI series of sophisticated Drones worth Rs20 lakh each in market value, used for cross-border smuggling along the International Border (IB). This sophisticated high-end series possesses high-tech features including long-lasting battery backup, and infra-red based night vision cameras. This year the trend of sophisticated drones is expected to turn into an alarming number.
· In November last year the BSF women personnel shot down the largest drone flown from the Pakistan side which measured 7 feet across and weighed 19 Kg. The drone was carrying 6.5 Kg of heroin.
· In the year 2022, As many as 22 drones were captured and 316 Kg of drugs were seized.
Smuggling Advantage: Faulty Fence
· Kakkar-Ranian border villages sitting close to each other on the IB, have been continuously in the news for the wrongly placed barbed wire fencing that created security gaps along the Indo-Pak border. At least 2,750 acres of land that belongs to India stood divided as the fence which begins from border pillar no. 95\\\/5S to pillar no. 95\\\/7G was positioned over 1 km ahead of the zero line between India and Pakistan.
· With this lapse, the stretch became a favorite spot for infiltrators and drug smugglers which proved a headache for security agencies too, as this 2,000-acre stretch proved difficult to man via night vigil with limited lighting arrangements.
· The security loophole area of this village is merrily being used by smugglers to throw in drugs from the Pak side since Indian farmers leave the fields by 4 pm, and “If some Pakistani smuggler sneaks in drugs or other illegal material, the Indian owner is taken to task”, said a farmer.
· Village smugglers also take advantage of this lacunae. Instances of huge quantity of seizure of contraband from tractor drawbars of farmers on the Indian side, worth nearly Rs 20 Crores, in the twin villages of Kakkar- Ranian, also caught news headlines.
Drug Seizure Highlights of Kakkar
· In mid-January this year, a 6-wing assembled drone with USA & China-made parts carrying 5kg heroin was shot down in Kakkar.
· In late January, police seized 5 kg heroin, and Rs 12.15 lakh in drug money from Rashpal Singh Pala a known drug smuggler of Kakkar. The seizure came through a trail left by two drug smugglers arrest in the busting of an elaborate trans-border drug racket recovering 10 kg of heroin in village Thattha near Kakkar.
· In February, a 17yr old was arrested with 15kg heroin and Rs 8.50 lakh in cash who was about to deliver a huge consignment with the help of one Resham Singh which he retrieved from a drone dropping in village Kakkar. The family of the teenager is deeply entrenched in the business of drug smuggling as his grandfather and father are in jail under the NDPS Act.
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