The Border Security Force on Tuesday said that it shot down 100 Pakistani drones in Indian territory, along the border in Punjab, this year.

The unmanned aerial vehicles are being used by “anti-national elements to smuggle narcotics, arms and ammunition into [the] Indian territory,” the force’s Punjab Frontier unit said in a social media post.

Persons who were allegedly facilitating the smuggling by using drones had also been caught during the year, said the security organisation tasked with guarding India’s borders. The Border Security Force did not provide details of the number of persons who had been apprehended.

On Tuesday, the force said that it had seized 2.09 kgs of heroin stacked in a black bag with illuminating strips, “which indicate that consignment was likely dropped by a Pakistani drone”, from Punjab’s Fazilka district.

This came a day after the organisation said that its personnel had seized 434 grams of heroin wrapped with adhesive tape from the Ranian village in Amritsar district. The force launched the operation after it noticed that a Pakistani drone had allegedly violated the Indian airspace.

“The troops swiftly responded to the drone intrusion, which dropped the contraband before returning back to Pakistan,” the organisation said in a social media post.

On Sunday, the organisation had arrested three smugglers in Amritsar district. The smugglers had been apprehended when they picked up a drug consignment allegedly dropped by a Pakistani drone in a farm.