After gap of 9 months, Naxal drones seen in Gadchiroli again

Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police Ankit Goyal confirmed the sighting of drones. “The drones were probably launched from a nearby hillock so that we may not be able to spot them,” he said.

Drones were also sighted near Pipariya police post in Gondia district, according to Deputy Inspector General of Police, Gadchiroli range, Sandip Patil.

Patil said, “The drones are ferried over sensitive posts between 7 pm and 9 pm, making it difficult to trace the origin.” He said their objective was to study the arrangements in the post and to conduct surveillance of police parties out on anti-Naxal operations.

Asked where the drones could be sourced from, Patil said, “We had found some drones being used for purposes like shooting weddings at Etapalli town. It was then revealed that they were brought from Hyderabad. So we suspect that Naxals, too, must have brought them from Hyderabad.”

He, however, said, “They are simple drones, incapable of carrying out any attacks and are usable only for surveillance purpose, but we do conduct standard operating procedures by firing at them.”

On how the police would tackle the menace if Naxals take their usage of drones to another level, Patil said, “We are also using drones to counter them. We have placed orders for anti-drone guns and will soon deploy them at our sensitive posts.”