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As cross-border tunnels keep popping up, BSF asks industry to develop tunnel detection technology

“In the latest such incident, the BSF said it had detected a tunnel on May 4 in the area of Chak Faquira Border Out Post in Samba sector of Jammu and Kashmir, which was about 150 metre long and originated on Pakistani side of the border.”

PRAVASISAMWAD.COM

Amidst a series of clandestine cross-border tunnels along the western front discovered over the past few years, the Border Security Force (BSF) has approached the industry to develop tunnel detection technology and equipment.

In the sixth edition of Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC-6), launched by the Defence Minister a few days ago, the BSF has projected a requirement for developing capability to detect dormant tunnels up to a depth of 15 metre and pinpoint any movement within them.

“In the recent past, a few tunnels have been detected on the western borders with Pakistan. Detection and imaging of underground tunnels is a big challenge, especially in the context of border security as the enemy can use his territory to dig a tunnel and open it deep inside our country behind own border security line to clandestinely infiltrate and smuggle narcotics, explosives, arms or ammunition,” the DISC document states.

In the latest such incident, the BSF said it had detected a tunnel on May 4 in the area of Chak Faquira Border Out Post in Samba sector of Jammu and Kashmir, which was about 150 metre long and originated on Pakistani side of the border. It is the fifth tunnel to be detected within a period of 18 months, according to the BSF.

“The tunnel was detected on the basis of intelligence inputs following which a search operation had been launched,” a senior BSF officer said. “So far we do not have any surveillance gadgets or equipment to search for and detect tunnels,” he added.

Trials of some equipment such as ground penetration radar, including that being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, have been carried out recently.

The BSF requires equipment that should also be able to detect the exact location of any movement inside the tunnel at a distance of at least 100 metre. It should be portable and easy-to-operate system.

On the western front, the BSF is responsible for the peacetime management of the international border with Pakistan from the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat to Akhnoor in Jammu and Kashmir. Its battalions are also co-deployed with the Army along the Line of Control from Akhnoor till Kargil. Though most of the border with Pakistan is fenced, there are some gaps along riverine stretches.

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David Solomon
David Solomon
(For over four decades, David Solomon’s insightful stories about people, places, animals –in fact almost anything and everything in India and abroad – as a journalist and traveler, continue to engross, thrill, and delight people like sparkling wine. Photography is his passion.)

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