The Border Security Force (BSF) has confiscated heroin consignments worth Rs 2,500 crore this year on the Punjab-Pakistan border.

“About 500 kg heroin has been seized this year and we are celebrating this remarkable feat,” BSF IG Atul Fuzele told The Statesman, adding: “We have also apprehended 75 smugglers from all the six bordering districts of Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Fazilka and Ferozepur and handed them over to the Punjab Police.”

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The BSF also shot down and seized over 100 drones in 2023. Most of these drones carried drug consignments and firearms which suggests that the Pakistani agencies were trying to use this aerial route to carry out disturbance in this border state, a highly placed source said.

The Pakistani agencies have become restless ever since the seizure of heroin worth Rs 3,000 crore at the Adani-Mudra Port. After strict vigil on the Punjab border, they thought of using the alternate sea route. But after two large seizures at the Adani-Mudra Port, they again started sending drug consignments through drones.

According to the data available, in the year 2022, 315 kg of heroin worth Rs 1,580 crore was confiscated and 190 drones were recovered. Of these, 22 drones were brought down by the BSF. In 2021, 485.165 kg heroin was seized which was worth Rs 2,450 crore while 64 drone intrusion incidents were reported.

“The increase in the seizure of drugs and drones indicates that the intelligence network is well laid out in the bordering districts and BSF has cultivated its sources,” said an official from the BSF. While earlier, the seizure rate was just 10 to 20 per cent of the total smuggling now the seizure and confiscation rate is almost touching cent per cent. “It has become very hard for drug peddlers and dealers to operate and the increase in drug hauls is a result of that,” a source said.

According to a senior BSF official, “Pakistani smugglers used to earlier use large drones that cost about Rs 15-18 lakh each, but recently they changed tactics and now they are using much cheaper drones, which carry a smaller load, which is why the drone intrusions have gone up.” The majority of these drones are “made in China”. Even Chinese weapons were found at border crossings.