India will soon have a comprehensive anti-drone unit to secure its international borders against the threat of unmanned aerial vehicles, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Sunday.

Sources in the BSF said Pakistani syndicates were trying to “destabilise” India by using drones to push narcotics and weapons into Punjab and Rajasthan. The objective is to induce drug addiction among the youth and arm militants in Jammu and Kashmir.

The initial results of a mechanism with a mounted “laser-equipped anti-drone-gun” have been encouraging, Shah said at an event to celebrate the BSF’s 60th Raising Day in Jodhpur.

He said the initiative had raised drone neutralisation and detection along the Pakistan border in Punjab from 3 per cent to 55 per cent.

“The drone menace is going to get more serious in the coming days.... We are tackling this issue with a ‘whole of government’ approach, with defence and research organisations and the DRDO joining hands. We are going to create a comprehensive anti-drone unit for the country,” the home minister said.

According to official data, over 260 drones have been downed or recovered from India’s border with Pakistan this year, compared with about 110 in 2023. The highest interception of drones has taken place in Punjab.

A BSF official said the drones seized this year included those shot down by Indian troops with rifles, those jammed during flight with anti-drone technology, and those found lying in the fields. Some of the tip-offs came from the intelligence agencies, the rest from local people.

From November last year to November this year, the BSF has been involved in the seizure of 663kg narcotics and 69 weapons and the arrest of 275 people: 227 Indians, 43 Pakistanis and 5 Bangladeshis. Six infiltrators or criminals were killed on the borders, sources said.

The BSF guards the 2,290km western frontier with Pakistan, of which 553km lies along Punjab’s boundary and the rest along the boundaries of Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

A BSF official said a border fence with a new design was being built to strengthen the anti-infiltration grid.

“The (existing) fence has become quite old, so a new-design fence is being constructed. We are using technology: in particular, all vulnerable (to infiltration) patches are being installed with PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) cameras and CCTV cameras,” he said.

“There is a command-and-control centre where all these vulnerable patches are monitored 24x7 by our people.”

Shah said the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS), meant to secure India’s borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh, was a work in progress.

“We have had an encouraging response from the CIBMS deployed along the riverine border in Dhubri, Assam (on the Bangladesh border), but some improvements are required,” he said.

The CIBMS integrates various systems and technologies relating to surveillance, communication, command and control, and personnel.