Centre forms committee to investigate drone-based explosives attack in Manipur

The Centre has formed a committee of top officers from the army, state police and paramilitary forces to examine the modus operandi of explosives dropped by drones adopted by militants in Manipur, officials aware of the matter said.

The committee of army’s 57 Mountain divisions lieutenant general, additional DGP Manipur police, major general of the Assam Rifles (South), and inspector generals from Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Border Security Force (BSF) will be roping in technical experts to analyse how militants are modifying drones to plant explosives and drop them.

Over the last three days, at least four such cases have been reported.

The latest case was reported on Tuesday morning, when a drone equipped with explosives was dropped on the terrace of the Manipur Rifles post near Singla dam in Manipur. There were no casualties reported in the incident.

An officer aware of the developments in Manipur, said, “The committee was formed after a high-level meeting in the state on Monday. The committee will hire technical experts to understand the mechanism and the working of these explosives fitted drones. They will collect evidence and examine the threat. Corrective measures to handle this new menace will then be decided by his committee.”

The committee will rope in experts from BSF who have been handling the menace of drones dropping drugs and guns at the Indo-Pakistan border in Punjab.

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Security forces have so far recovered one drone from a militant camp in Kangpokpi during the search operations. While drones were being used for surveillance by militants from Kuki and Meitei groups in Manipur, Sunday’s attack was the first time that it was weaponised.

The new challenge of drones being weaponised has prompted the Assam Rifles chief, lieutenant general, Vikas Lakhera to visit Manipur.

Many senior security force personnel in Manipur believe that the militants who have adopted this modus operandi may have been trained across the border, possibly Myanmar.

“There are many videos on the internet which show how one can weaponise drones. But this requires practice and skill. The rebel forces in Myanmar have been regularly using drones to drop the payloads at the military bases. It is possible that militants were trained there or experts from there crossed over to the jungles and trained the militants here,” a second officer said.