In a major drug haul in recent times, the Counter Intelligence (CI) Wing of the Punjab Police, in a joint operation with the Border Security Force (BSF), today foiled a cross-border narcotics smuggling bid with the recovery of 44.5 kg heroin and 3 kg methamphetamine, popularly known as ICE, from the border area of Gajniwala village along the Indo-Pakistan border in the district.Divulging the details, DGP Punjab Police Gaurav Yadav said the consignment had been airdropped using a drone from across the border. He said, based on specific inputs generated by the Counter Intelligence wing, a cordon-and-search operation (CASO) was jointly conducted with the BSF in the fields of Gajniwala village, situated a few metres from the international border.The DGP said further investigation was under way to establish the forward and backward linkages of the cross-border smuggling network and identify all persons associated with the cross-border handlers.Sharing the operational details, IGP, Counter Intelligence, Ashish Choudhary, said that acting on information provided by a reliable source regarding drone movement near the Indo-Pakistan border in the Gajniwala area, the police teams from Ferozepur district immediately shared the pinpointed inputs with the BSF and jointly launched a combing operation in the area.“On thorough checking of the surrounding fields, the Police and BSF teams successfully recovered the consignment of heroin and ICE from the area of Gajniwala,” the IGP said, adding that investigations were underway to ascertain the identity of the smugglers who had sent the consignment and their Indian associates who were supposed to receive it.“In this regard, an FIR (No. 19) under Sections 21C and 29 of the NDPS Act has been registered against unknown persons at Police Station State Special Operations Cell (SSOC), Fazilka,” said the IGP.