Gandhinagar: While India thwarted more than 600 aerial attacks involving drones and missiles from Pakistan along the Gujarat and Rajasthan borders during the recent military conflict, the residents of the border areas are concerned that the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) by Pakistan may eventually open up a new smuggling route for contraband.
On Saturday, Abhishek Pathak, inspector general of the Border Security Force Gujarat Frontier, which covers the international boundary between India and Pakistan along Gujarat and Munabao, Barmer, in Rajasthan, told the media that the security agencies foiled more than 600 drone attacks from Pakistan during this period, out of which about 40 per cent attacks were targeted at Gujarat.
Significantly, drones continued to be dispatched from across the border after the declaration of ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
A villager told ET on condition of anonymity that the movement of flying objects from Pakistan continued several days after the ceasefire. “These movements have been rather frequent,” he said, adding that unless checked, it might open up a smuggling route for contraband in the area.
Munabao and its adjoining areas have rarely reported smuggling of contraband in recent years as the border is well-guarded. On the contrary, there has been a spurt in narcotics smuggling through the sea route.
Speaking from Jamnagar, a senior member of the state security apparatus said that a Pakistani drone had reached the coastal town during the recent clash. “Not just the Rajasthan border, the drones can reach here as well and there is every possibility that they would be used for dropping contraband sooner than later,” said the person, who did not wish to be identified.
The heroin smuggling syndicate of Pakistan has been forced to find new routes to smuggle heroin outside the country, as Combined Task Force-150, a multinational coalition naval task force, is keeping close vigil in the North Arabian Sea and Horn of Africa area. Further, despite a ban on poppy cultivation imposed by the Taliban in Afghanistan, supply has increased from Pakistan. The syndicate has been exploring the coast of Gujarat to smuggle heroin into India.
A United Nations report said, “The Afghan heroin is brought to the drug users of the world via three main trafficking routes, the Balkan route, the northern route and the southern route. The gateway to these routes is through the long and remote borders of Afghanistan about 2,430 km with Pakistan, 2,230 km with Central Asia and 1,923 km with Islamic Republic of Iran.”
While earlier the northern provinces of the country were the primary locations, the southern provinces emerged as the leading locations for heroin seizures after 2013, with Nimroz sharing borders with both Pakistan and Iran, growing in importance along the route.
While opium production in Afghanistan was about 180 tonnes in 2001, it surged to 8,000 tonnes in 2007 and in spite of all efforts by the US forces, the production went up to 9,000 tonnes in 2017. However, the area under opium poppy cultivation in 2023 shrank 95% year-on-year to 10,800 hectares from the 2022 estimate of 233,000 hectares, according to a United Nations report, after the newly installed Taliban regime announced a ban on poppy cultivation in April 2022. The ban did not put an end to illicit drug trade, though, according to independent observers.
“The drones we recovered this time around are of different types than those used for smuggling,” a senior BSF official told ET on condition of anonymity. “And this is a very new problem for us.”
While the official did not rule out the possibility of the UAVs being used for smuggling contraband, he said the security agencies are keeping a close watch on the developments.
“The security agencies are now procuring a lot of equipment for soft and hard kill of drones,” said another defence official. “Concerns have been raised at the highest level and all the agencies are actively engaged in putting measures in place to thwart any threat from this direction.”
( Originally published on May 31, 2025 )
On Saturday, Abhishek Pathak, inspector general of the Border Security Force Gujarat Frontier, which covers the international boundary between India and Pakistan along Gujarat and Munabao, Barmer, in Rajasthan, told the media that the security agencies foiled more than 600 drone attacks from Pakistan during this period, out of which about 40 per cent attacks were targeted at Gujarat.
Significantly, drones continued to be dispatched from across the border after the declaration of ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
A villager told ET on condition of anonymity that the movement of flying objects from Pakistan continued several days after the ceasefire. “These movements have been rather frequent,” he said, adding that unless checked, it might open up a smuggling route for contraband in the area.
Munabao and its adjoining areas have rarely reported smuggling of contraband in recent years as the border is well-guarded. On the contrary, there has been a spurt in narcotics smuggling through the sea route.
Speaking from Jamnagar, a senior member of the state security apparatus said that a Pakistani drone had reached the coastal town during the recent clash. “Not just the Rajasthan border, the drones can reach here as well and there is every possibility that they would be used for dropping contraband sooner than later,” said the person, who did not wish to be identified.
The heroin smuggling syndicate of Pakistan has been forced to find new routes to smuggle heroin outside the country, as Combined Task Force-150, a multinational coalition naval task force, is keeping close vigil in the North Arabian Sea and Horn of Africa area. Further, despite a ban on poppy cultivation imposed by the Taliban in Afghanistan, supply has increased from Pakistan. The syndicate has been exploring the coast of Gujarat to smuggle heroin into India.
A United Nations report said, “The Afghan heroin is brought to the drug users of the world via three main trafficking routes, the Balkan route, the northern route and the southern route. The gateway to these routes is through the long and remote borders of Afghanistan about 2,430 km with Pakistan, 2,230 km with Central Asia and 1,923 km with Islamic Republic of Iran.”
While earlier the northern provinces of the country were the primary locations, the southern provinces emerged as the leading locations for heroin seizures after 2013, with Nimroz sharing borders with both Pakistan and Iran, growing in importance along the route.
While opium production in Afghanistan was about 180 tonnes in 2001, it surged to 8,000 tonnes in 2007 and in spite of all efforts by the US forces, the production went up to 9,000 tonnes in 2017. However, the area under opium poppy cultivation in 2023 shrank 95% year-on-year to 10,800 hectares from the 2022 estimate of 233,000 hectares, according to a United Nations report, after the newly installed Taliban regime announced a ban on poppy cultivation in April 2022. The ban did not put an end to illicit drug trade, though, according to independent observers.
“The drones we recovered this time around are of different types than those used for smuggling,” a senior BSF official told ET on condition of anonymity. “And this is a very new problem for us.”
While the official did not rule out the possibility of the UAVs being used for smuggling contraband, he said the security agencies are keeping a close watch on the developments.
“The security agencies are now procuring a lot of equipment for soft and hard kill of drones,” said another defence official. “Concerns have been raised at the highest level and all the agencies are actively engaged in putting measures in place to thwart any threat from this direction.”
( Originally published on May 31, 2025 )
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