For years, smugglers along the India–Pakistan frontier relied on boats, hidden trails and trusted couriers. Today they are using the sky.
Across Punjab and Rajasthan, security forces have intercepted dozens of drones carrying heroin, weapons and other contraband dropped inside India’s borders. The new method is fast, hard to trace and — according to police and investigators — sometimes backed by organised cross-border networks that move money, arms and drugs together. This investigation traces how those drone routes work, why they are spreading, how Indian forces are trying to stop them, and what ordinary people need to know to stay safe.
In the quiet fields of Punjab’s border villages, the night sky has turned into a battleground. No more do smugglers need to risk crossing the barbed wire fences or dodging patrols on foot. Now, they send buzzing machines from across the border—small drones loaded with heroin, pistols, and even grenades. These “sky drops” are rewriting the rules of smuggling along India’s western frontier with Pakistan.
Just last week, on November 14, Border Security Force (BSF) troops in Ferozepur district heard the faint hum of a drone slicing through the foggy air. By dawn, they had shot it down and recovered 1.016 kg of heroin, two pistols, and parts of four Pakistani drones. This was no isolated catch. In the past month alone, security forces have seized over a dozen such devices, each carrying poison that fuels addiction and terror in Punjab and Jammu.
What started as a rare trick in 2019 has exploded into a daily threat. Official data shows drone smuggling cases jumped from just three in 2021 to a shocking 179 in 2024. Punjab, with its 532-km stretch of shared border, bears the brunt—over 70% of these incursions happen here. But Jammu, Rajasthan, and even Gujarat are feeling the heat as smugglers shift routes to dodge crackdowns.
This is more than just drugs crossing over. These drones carry weapons linked to murders, like the 2022 killing of singer Sidhu Moosewala, and attacks on army posts. They are tools in a bigger game, say experts, backed by Pakistan’s spy agency ISI to weaken India from within. “It’s a low-cost war on our youth and security,” says a senior BSF officer who asked not to be named.
As India marks another year of heightened border tensions, this story digs deep into how these flying threats work, who runs them, and what forces are doing to fight back. From farmer fields turned drop zones to high-tech counters in the sky, here’s the full picture.
The Rise of the Silent Invaders
Back in 2019, the first reports trickled in from Punjab’s Tarn Taran district. A farmer found a crashed drone in his wheat field, wrapped around it a small packet of heroin. Security forces dismissed it as a one-off. But by 2021, the Jammu Air Force Station attack changed everything—two drones dropped explosives on the runway, the first sign they could strike hard.
Fast forward to 2025, and the numbers tell a grim tale. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) says drone drops now make up over 80% of cross-border drug hauls along the Indo-Pak line. In Punjab alone, BSF recovered 250 drones in 2024, up 150% from 2023. This year, by May, they had already hit 100 seizures, including 111 kg of heroin and 60 weapons.
Why Punjab? Flat farmlands make ideal landing spots, and villages like those in Ferozepur and Amritsar are just a short flight from Pakistan’s Punjab province. Smugglers launch from Kasur or Khanewal, just 5-10 km away, using cheap Chinese models like DJI Mavic or Phantom. These aren’t fancy military birds—they’re off-the-shelf toys modded with bigger batteries and GPS chips for 20-km ranges and 5-10 kg payloads.
A BSF report from July 2025 notes how one seized drone’s chip showed flights from Shanghai to Pakistan before multiple drops in India. Cost? Under Rs 50,000 per bird, says Punjab Police DGP Gaurav Yadav. “One drone can drop a kilo of heroin worth lakhs on the street. It’s big profit, low risk.”
But it’s not just drugs. In October 2025, Amritsar police busted a ring smuggling 15 pistols—nine Glocks and six .30 bore—dropped by drones. The handlers? Pakistani contacts on social media, directing locals to pick up packages under cover of night.
How the Sky Drops Work: A Smuggler’s Playbook
Picture this: It’s 2 a.m. in a village near the border fence. A handler in Lahore pings a WhatsApp group with coordinates. On the Indian side, a spotter—often a local youth paid Rs 5,000—waits with a flashlight. The drone hums in, drops its load in a polythene bag tied with weights, and zips back. Whole op: 10 minutes.
These aren’t blind flights. Drones use GPS and sometimes live video feeds to avoid patrols. Newer ones have “fail-safe” tech—if jammed, they auto-return home, frustrating Indian jammers. Punjab Police say 8-15 incursions happen daily, but many slip through. “We detect most, but the sky is vast,” admits a officer in Ferozepur.
Routes cluster around key sectors: Ferozepur (30% of drops), Amritsar (25%), and Tarn Taran (20%). Jammu’s Samba and Kathua see spillover, with 75 sightings in 2022 alone. In September 2025, Kathua police nabbed four in a drone drug ring, recovering 30 kg of heroin already smuggled. Two were NHAI workers using job sites as covers.
The supply chain? Heroin from Afghanistan via Pakistan’s tribal areas, refined in labs near Lahore, then airlifted. Weapons? Often Chinese pistols or AK parts from ISI stockpiles. A 2023 admission by Pakistan PM’s advisor Malik Ahmad Khan confirmed it: “Smugglers use drones in flood-hit Kasur to send heroin to India.”
Local links are the weak spot. Minors and unemployed youth act as mules, hooked by quick cash. Since January 2024, BSF arrested nearly 350 smugglers—almost one every other day. “They target our boys with Rs 2,000-3,000 per pickup,” says Harpreet Singh, a farmer from Gurdaspur whose son got nabbed last year.
The Human Cost: Poisoning Punjab’s Future
Punjab’s drug crisis was bad enough—over 80,000 addicts in 2024, per state data. Now, drone hauls are flooding streets with cheap heroin and synthetics like methamphetamine, up sixfold since 2019. A single drop can yield 1-2 kg, cut and sold to thousands.
In Amritsar’s border belts, families are breaking. “My brother started with ‘small packets’ from the fields. Now he’s gone,” shares a tearful mother from Majra village. Over 1,200 overdose deaths in Punjab last year, many tied to border smack.
Worse, weapons fuel violence. The Moosewala murder pistol? Traced to a drone drop. In Jammu, 2024 saw five soldiers killed in a drone-linked blast. NCB chief S.N. Pradhan warns: “This is a threat to internal security, blending narco-terror.”
Economically, it’s a drain. Punjab loses Rs 2,000 crore yearly to smuggling, per a 2025 state report. Villages once green with crops now hide drop sites, scaring investors.
MoS Home Nisith Pramanik told Parliament in 2023: “Anti-nationals use drones for arms and drugs in Punjab—53 cases in three years.” By 2025, that’s tripled.
Fighting Back: Guns, Jammers, and Drone Hunters
India isn’t sitting quiet. BSF’s “Operation Sindoor” in July 2025 launched drone squadrons—special units with their own UAVs for spotting and zapping threats. In Punjab, three vehicle-mounted anti-drone systems (ADS) rolled out in August, jamming signals up to 5 km.
Joint ops with Punjab Police have spiked arrests. October’s Amritsar bust netted seven, including a minor, with drone coords from Pakistan. BSF claims 90% detection rate now, up from 60% in 2023.
Tech upgrades include laser-based zappers and AI radars that spot hexacopters by sound. “We’re matching their game,” says BSF DG Daljit Singh Chawdhary. In a November 12 op, troops downed three drones overnight.
But challenges remain. Smugglers adapt—flying lower, using swarms, or shifting to Jammu’s hills. The “ballooning effect” pushes threats to Rajasthan’s Abohar. Punjab HC voiced alarm in October: “Rise in drone drugs is a state emergency.”
Experts like Ajai Sahni from Delhi’s think tank say: “Need global pressure on Pakistan—sanctions on drone parts suppliers.” India has raised it at UN, but progress is slow.
Voices from the Frontline
We spoke to those in the thick of it. BSF jawan Raj Kumar from Ferozepur: “Nights are longest now. One hum, and we’re alert. Last month, I shot down a bird with 2 kg heroin—saved lives, but how many got away?”
Local MLA from Tarn Taran, Balkar Singh: “Our youth are pawns. We need jobs, not just fences. Drones mock our borders.”
On the other side, a rare Pakistani voice: Smuggler-turned-informant in Kasur (name withheld) told a journalist in 2023: “Drones made it easy after floods. No guards chase machines.”
J&K DGP Dilbag Singh in April 2023: “We’ve countered many drops, but vigilance is key.”
Looking Ahead: A Sky Full of Shadows
As winter fog rolls in, experts fear a spike—poor visibility aids drops. With Pakistan’s economy in tatters, smuggling is their cash cow. India eyes more ADS—100 needed for full Punjab cover.
But hope glimmers. Community watches in villages, like Gurdaspur’s “No Drone” groups, tip off patrols. If tech and people unite, these sky drops could ground. For now, every buzz in the night reminds us: The border war has gone aerial.
The Pattern: Where Drones are Landing and What they Carry
In 2024–2025, Indian security agencies reported a marked rise in drone sightings and recoveries along the Rajasthan and Punjab sectors of the international border. The cargo ranges from small packets of heroin to pistols, ammunition and — in some cases — high-value consignments worth crores of rupees. In recent weeks, Border Security Force (BSF) patrols intercepted multiple drones and recovered heroin packets and weapons in Amritsar, Ferozepur and parts of western Rajasthan.
Why these two states? Geography helps explain part of the answer. Large stretches of the India–Pakistan border in Rajasthan and Punjab are flat and thinly populated, with open fields and salt plains where small drones can approach at night and drop packages with low risk of immediate detection. Proximity to organised networks across the border — and to collection and distribution routes inside India — makes these areas operationally attractive to smugglers.
Load-bearing fact: As of mid-November 2025, official figures reported hundreds of drone interceptions and seizures of heroin and weapons along the India–Pakistan border, underscoring the scale of the challenge.
How Smugglers Run the “Air-Drop” Business
Across interviews, press releases and a recent NIA chargesheet, the smuggling cycle looks like this:
- Purchase and preparation: Drones — often commercial models modified for longer range and heavier payloads — are sourced in Pakistan. Packages are secured and flight plans are prepared. Operators use encrypted messaging apps to coordinate.
- Night launch and drop: Most operations happen at night. A drone flies low across the border, reaches an open field or near a small village inside India, and drops a small packet attached to a parachute or just lets it fall. Local “pick-up” teams retrieve the drop quickly.
- Local handover and transport: The package moves within hours through local couriers, mule accounts and front businesses. In some cases, recovered chargesheets show the same networks also traffic arms and ammunition. That makes the business dual-purpose: weapons move one way, money and drugs move the other.
- Money and logistics: Proceeds travel through UPI, bank transfers and cash couriers; in some instances investigators also report the use of encrypted channels and international linkages to move funds. Authorities say organised syndicates use multiple cover routes to launder the money and avoid quick detection.
This model is fast. In many successful drops, by the time neighbourhood residents notice an unknown object falling in a field, the pick-up team is already gone.
Who is Behind these Routes?
Recent law-enforcement action — including an NIA chargesheet filed in Rajasthan — points to networks that link local Indian operatives with handlers across the border. The chargesheet alleges that the syndicate used drones to move heroin and weapons into Rajasthan and coordinated distribution across several states. Some accused remain at large, according to the charge documents.
Security officials say the networks are not all the same. Some are small local gangs that learned the drone method; others are larger groups with access to both drugs and arms, and possibly to handlers or suppliers across the international border. Where organised groups are involved, the pattern suggests planning: the right launch points, reliable retrieval teams, and money-moving channels.
A senior BSF official told reporters that intercepts in 2025 included not just drugs but weapons and explosive material — raising concern that drone drops could be used for violent acts, not only smuggling. The official urged constant vigilance and improved counter-drone systems.
The Security Response: Sensors, Teams and “Hawk Eye” Units
India’s border forces have not been passive. The BSF has intensified patrols, used night-vision and radio detection systems, and set up quick reaction teams to reach suspected drop sites fast. In Punjab, the state government and security agencies have set up specialised anti-drone units — called names such as ‘Hawk Eye’ or ‘Baaz Akh’ — that combine local police and BSF resources to detect and neutralise drones.
Technology helps, but it has limits. Small commercial drones fly low and can sometimes slip under radar coverage. Authorities increasingly rely on human intelligence — tips from villagers, local informants, and night patrols — to catch the hand-offs. More advanced counter-drone systems — jammers, automated shooters or geo-fencing — are being tested and deployed in high-risk sectors, but they are expensive and need careful rules of use in border areas.
Load-bearing fact: Authorities report that the number of drone seizures and drug recoveries along the border rose sharply in the last 12–18 months, prompting new technology deployments and legal actions.
The Human Cost: Fields, Farmers and Frightened Villages
For villagers near drop zones, life has changed. Farmers who once tended fields quietly now report helicopters, patrols and surprise visits by security forces. Some have found packets of contraband and handed them to authorities; others say fear of reprisals keeps them silent. In flood or bad-season conditions, when fields are empty at night, smugglers exploit the gap.
Local police and BSF spokespeople emphasise that most citizens are not complicit and many have been helpful — calling in tips that led to arrests. Still, the constant churn of operations has a cost: crops trampled during searches, hesitation to work at night, and occasional violence when smugglers try to protect their routes.
Legal and Investigation Challenges
Investigators face several hurdles:
- Tracing origin and chain of custody: A recovered drone may not carry reliable identifying information; parts are often bought separately and assembled. Proving the drone’s origin across an international border adds complexity.
- Cross-border evidence: Proving a link to handlers in Pakistan requires international cooperation that is often limited by diplomatic realities. Chargesheets rely heavily on domestic evidence — captured phones, encrypted messages and local networks.
- Quick money movement: Funds move fast via UPI, cash pick-ups and couriering. Unless banks freeze accounts within minutes, money disperses and evidence trails cool.
A former investigator told that drones change the clock for law enforcement — time windows for evidence are much shorter now than for traditional smuggling. “If a package lands at 2 a.m. and is distributed by 3 a.m., by the time we reach the site, the trail is often gone,” he said. (Investigator quoted in reporting.)
Are these “Terror” Routes or Criminal Commerce?
Authorities and analysts make a careful distinction. Many of the intercepted consignments are drugs and small arms, which suggest organised crime and trafficking rather than state-sponsored strikes. However, the inclusion of weapons and explosive materials in some seizures raises alarms about potential escalation. Security officials say that every weapon intercepted is treated as a serious security threat, and the presence of both drugs and arms suggests that networks may be diversifying or funding different activities.
The government treats both scenarios as severe: smuggling funds criminal enterprises and can support violence; direct attacks using drones would be an escalation into kinetic conflict. Both require aggressive policing and border controls.
What Investigators Say Must Change
Police and security officials recommend several steps:
- Stronger detection along specific corridors. Pockets of frequent drops need focused sensors and rapid teams.
- Tighter control on drone parts and purchases. Sellers and import channels should be monitored.
- Rapid financial freezes. Banks and payment firms must be ready to freeze accounts on credible leads within minutes.
- Local community engagement. Villagers can be first responders if they are trained to report drops and safe-guard evidence.
Officials say these steps are already being rolled out in parts of Punjab and Rajasthan, but more resources and coordination are needed for a sustained effect.
Official Voices — Versions and Responses
- Border Security Force (BSF): A BSF spokesperson said their patrols have recovered hundreds of drones, weapons and drugs in recent months and that operations combine intelligence inputs with local action. The BSF has called for better technology and stronger cross-agency coordination.
- National Investigation Agency (NIA): After taking over a major case in Rajasthan, the NIA said its chargesheet links domestic operatives with external handlers and that the network used drones and encrypted apps. The NIA is seeking further leads and international assistance where possible.
- State governments: Punjab and Rajasthan officials have said they are deploying anti-drone units and improving night surveillance. Punjab launched specialized units in high-risk sectors and urged citizens to report suspicious activity.
- Security analysts: Analysts warn that drone use for smuggling is part of a larger trend where low-cost technology rapidly changes criminal tactics. They urge a mix of technology, policing and community action to respond.
FAQ — What readers need to know
Q: Are the drones military or commercial?
A: Most recovered drones are modified commercial UAVs (off-the-shelf models adapted to carry small payloads). They are not the high-end military drones used in combat, but can still carry several kilograms of drugs or small weapons.
Q: How often are drops happening?
A: Interceptions have risen sharply over the last 12–18 months, with hundreds of drone encounters reported across border sectors. Exact numbers change as operations continue, but official counts show a clear upward trend.
Q: Can drones be jammed or shot down?
A: Yes. Counter-drone technology — jammers, RF detectors, and trained response units — can disable or bring down small UAVs. However, deploying such tech across long border stretches is costly and needs rules to prevent harm to civilians. Some state units have already deployed anti-drone measures in hotspots.
Q: What should villagers do if they find a dropped package?
A: Do not touch the package. Move to a safe place and call local police or the nearest BSF post. Note the time and any details (vehicle or people nearby) and keep a safe distance until authorities arrive.
Q: Is there evidence of foreign state support?
A: Current public chargesheets and reports point to trans-border criminal networks, not confirmed state-level sponsorship. However, proving cross-border direction and command requires complex evidence and international cooperation — which is not always possible to publish quickly. Authorities treat any weapons recovery as a national security issue.
Q: What kinds of items are being smuggled using these drones?
A: Mostly heroin and other drugs like synthetic meth, but also weapons such as pistols, AK-47 parts, grenades, and even small explosives. In 2025, BSF seized over 60 guns and 14 grenades from drone drops. These aren’t huge loads—one drone carries 1-5 kg—but enough to arm gangs or addict hundreds. The NCB links this to narco-terror, where drugs fund attacks.
Q: How do security forces detect and stop these drones?
A: BSF uses sound sensors, radars, and night patrols to spot the hum or lights. Once detected, they jam signals with ADS or shoot them down with shotguns/lasers. Drone squadrons fly their own UAVs for real-time tracking. In 2025 ops, like the November 14 Ferozepur raid, intel from locals helped recover four drones. Detection is now 90%, but vast border means some slip.
Q: Is this only happening in Punjab, or other areas too?
A: Punjab sees the most—242 of 250 drone recoveries in 2024. But Jammu (Samba, Kathua) had 75 sightings in 2022, and Rajasthan/Gujarat are rising due to “ballooning” from Punjab crackdowns. Overall, 492 sightings from 2020-2022 across the western border.
Q: Who is behind these drone operations?
A: Pakistan-based handlers, often ISI-linked, coordinate with Indian receivers via apps like WhatsApp. Groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba use it for arms. Locals—youth, farmers—pick up for cash. Busts like Kathua’s in September 2025 nabbed NHAI workers tied to Pak smugglers.
Q: What is the government doing to stop this?
A: BSF’s drone squadrons since July 2025, 100+ ADS planned, and joint police ops. Punjab’s “Yudh Abhas Yudh Nashian” campaign deploys mobile jammers. Central aid includes Rs 500 crore for border tech. Globally, India pushes UN for drone curbs on Pakistan.
Q: How does this affect daily life in border areas?
A: It worsens drug addiction—1,200+ deaths in Punjab last year—and spikes crime with smuggled guns. Farmers fear crop damage from drops, and kids get pulled in as spotters. But awareness drives, like village watches, are building resistance.