Published 16:52 IST, June 21st 2020
Meet the BSF officer who shot down the Pakistani drone with his Beretta
The first light was about to break and the patrol team led by Sub Inspector Davinder Singh was about to return to the base after spending the night guarding
- India News
- 3 min read
The first light was about to break and the patrol team of the Border Security Force led by Sub Inspector Davinder Singh was about to return to the base after spending the whole night guarding the post on the International Border with Pakistan in the Hiranagar sector.
The team was about to board their vehicle when Singh a trained shooting instructor and a shooting champion heard some unfamiliar sound coming from the Pakistani side.
"I came down from the vehicle after hearing the sound, the sound wasn't that familiar, I waited for some time and saw a strange flying object, it was very high, initially I thought it was a big bird", Davinder Singh told Republic World.
After observing the object for some time, Singh realized that it was not a bird but a large drone, that had come from the Pakistani side.
The patrol team was not equipped with a specific weapon to shoot down a flying object, but still, Singh loaded his Beretta rifle and took an aim at the drone.
Beretta is an Italian made assault rifle, meant for a ground assault, targeting a flying object is a really tough task.
"The only thing in my mind at that time was to make sure that this drone does not return back to Pakistan, so I took my Beretta which is a small weapon to take aim at the drone, Singh said.
Singh said that he fired nine rounds from his weapon to the drone and three to four rounds hit the drone bringing it down.
"When the drone was hit, I saw that it also had a payload attached to it, we realized that it was a nefarious design of Pakistan, so after the drone was brought down, we did not straight away go near it, we called the senior and waited for the Bomb disposal teams to find out what the payload was," Singh said.
The Bomb disposal team of the BSF reached the spot to check for any explosive traps, once they gave a go-ahead only then the drone was picked up.
"Upon opening the payload of the drone which was a hexacopter we found that it was carrying one US-made M4 Carbine, 60 rounds and seven Chinese hand grenades, it also had a chit with the name of Ali Bhai written on it, which indicates that it was meant for Ali Bhai, we also launched a manhunt to trace that person", Inspector General of BSF NS Jamwal told Republic world.
Jamwal said that he is happy that his troops shot down the drone and foiled a major terror plot to carry out attacks across the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Since the shooting down of the Pakistani drone along the International Border yesterday, the BSF has increased its vigil not only on or under the land but also towards the sky.
Updated 16:52 IST, June 21st 2020