The National Investigation Agency has started a probe into the smuggling of arms and ammunition via drones across the India-Pakistan border, suspecting a larger conspiracy aimed at carrying out terror attacks in India.

A large consignment of arms, ammunition and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) was recovered from Punjab in February. Intelligence inputs suggest that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has activated its handlers to conduct terror attacks in several places across India, including Punjab and Delhi.

The case was earlier being probed by the Punjab police.

Sources on Monday said the Union home ministry had directed the NIA to register a case to probe the alleged role of a Pakistan-based terror operative, Jasvir Chaudhary, his Indian associate Shubham Kumar and other unidentified individuals.

An NIA official said "credible information" had been received that on Chaudhary’s directions, his Indian associates had obtained a large consignment of arms, ammunition and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) dropped via drones across the India-Pakistan border with the intention to carry out blasts at various places in Punjab, Delhi and other parts of the country.

In its order to the NIA, the home ministry said the case appeared to be a part of a criminal conspiracy hatched by a "foreign element" to carry out terrorist acts in India.

Considering the gravity of the offence and its security ramifications, national and international links and the need to unearth the larger conspiracy, the matter needs to be investigated by the NIA, the ministry said in its order.

Sources said drones flown from across the border had become a major source of narcotics and ammunition for operatives working with Pakistan-based terrorist groups. Over the past few years, the BSF has seized several consignments of arms, ammunition and narcotics airdropped from drones operated by terrorists across the border.

According to an analysis of data of drones intercepted by the BSF, nearly 80 per cent of the UAVs that flew in from across the border in the last four and a half years from Pakistan’s Punjab province had landed in Amritsar.

Data compiled by the BSF show that the menace of unmanned aerial vehicles has become serious over the past few years along the frontier. The force shot down one drone in 2020, 22 in 2022, 120 in 2023 and over 300 in 2024.

In January alone last year, the BSF intercepted 63 drones and sent them for forensic analysis.

The BSF is also planning to introduce artificial intelligence (AI)-powered "smart border observation and monitoring systems" along the frontiers with Pakistan and Bangladesh to crack down on cross-border smuggling, infiltration and the drone menace.

The proposed "Unified AI Platform", sources said, is aimed at securing the borders with automated and real-time intelligence while reducing reliance on human-intensive monitoring. The system will also offer real-time insight, and predict smuggling hotspots and infiltration routes for better resource allocation and operational planning and execution.

This advanced technology is likely to improve the BSF’s capabilities by assimilating live video streams directly from CCTV cameras, which will be processed on a video analytics server. The real-time surveillance using the AI-enabled system will ensure immediate analysis of smuggling hotspots and potential infiltration routes.