Chandigarh, December 21: Punjab Police on Monday said it seized 11 hand grenades, suspected to have been dropped by a drone flying in from Pakistan, from a field near the International Border (IB) in Gurdaspur district.

The consignment was found in a field in Salach village, located about 1 km from the border, in Gurdaspur district, Gurdaspur Senior Superintendent of Police Rajinder Singh Sohal told PTI over the phone. The grenades were hidden in a box and it was attached to a wooden frame, he said, adding the recovery was made Sunday evening.

Sohal said the Border Security Force had seen the movement of a drone on the intervening night of December 19 and 20 and had even fired at it. “We conducted a search operation with the BSF personnel on Sunday and recovered grenades,” he said. Terror Plot Foiled in Pakistan's Punjab Province, 3 Militants Arrested.

The first incident of dropping arms and weapons through drones from Pakistan came to light in Punjab in August 2019 when police recovered AK-47 rifles, magazines and rounds of ammunition, hand grenades, fake currency and other items in Tarn Taran district. Since then there have been a number of instances when security forces seized arms and ammunition dropped by drones flying in from across the Pakistani border.