Drones sighted at Jammu and Kashmir’s Kaluchak and Kathua, security agencies on high alert

Security agencies are on high alert after drones were sighted at Birpur Kaluchak area of Jammu and Nihalpur in Kathua.

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New Delhi: Two mysterious flying objects suspected to be drones have been sighted at Birpur Kaluchak area of Jammu and Nihalpur in Kathua on Friday (July 23), prompting security agencies to go on high alert. 

Many local people who saw the objects captured them on their mobile phones via videos. 

Earlier on Friday, security agencies shot down a drone carrying improvised explosive device (IED) material weighing five kg in the border belt of Jammu district, officials said. 

"At about 1 am, the drone made a low flight to release the payload (IED), when it was shot down,"  Additional Director General of police (ADGP) Mukesh Singh was quoted as saying by PTI. 

Following information about a drone flying over the border belt of Kanachak along the International Border (IB), a quick reaction team (QRT) of the police swung into action and shot it down using anti-drone strategy in the early hours, the official said. 

"The IED material was packed and almost ready and just to be triggered by connecting a few wires," he informed. 

As per preliminary inquiry, the flying object was a hexa m-copter with six wings and had a GPS device and a flight controller. "A possible IED blast has been prevented," Singh said. 

On July 22 night, the Jammu and Kashmir Police shot down an explosives-laden drone in Jammu's Akhnoor area. Police had also recovered improvised explosive device from the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). 

Since the drone attack at the Jammu Airforce airbase on June 27, several drones have been spotted on multiple locations in Jammu in the last month.