United News of Bangladesh

A surveillance drone operated by India’s Border Security Force (BSF) reportedly entered Bangladeshi territory in Patgram upazila of Lalmonirhat before crashing due to a technical fault.  It was soon recovered by Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), in a sequence of events that triggered a spell of tension in the border area. Locals said the drone was found in a cornfield inside Bangladesh, around 20 yards from main border pillar 841/8S, under Burimari Union, where it fell with a loud crash, immediately alerting farmers working in their fields.  They immediately informed BGB personnel at the Burimari BOP, who later seized the drone and took it into custody. The incident occurred around 12.30 - 1pm on Tuesday in the Moglibari border area. Witnesses said the BSF, specifically its 98 Himalaya Camp located in the Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, was conducting surveillance and recording video of the border area using the drone, when they lost control of it due to a mechanical fault and fell inside Bangladesh territory. The commandant of the camp contacted the BGB regarding the drone. The device reportedly flew over a farmer working in his field before crashing into the cornfield with a loud noise, causing panic among nearby residents. There are also suggestions that the drone may have been neutralized by Bangladesh's use of advanced Electronic Warfare platforms rather than suffering a simple mechanical failure. Bangladesh Army’s growing EW capabilities, as part of its Forces Goal 2030 upgrade initiative, include systems acquired from multiple advanced suppliers enabling effective signal disruption. In 2025, it procured the Turkish İLTER J350 Counter-Unmanned Aerial System (C-UAS), a modern RF and radar-based system capable of detecting, tracking, and neutralising small and medium UAVs. Meanwhile the Bangladesh Air Force, just last month, formally inducted two units of the advanced French-made Thales Ground Master 403M radar system, to enhance airspace surveillance. The units were operating at Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) and Bogura as of April 2026. Following the crashing of the Indian drone on Tuesday, BSF personnel reportedly increased patrols along the border in an attempt to recover it, further heightening tensions in the area. After local farmers informed BGB, members of Burimari BOP under Teesta Battalion (61 BGB) reached the spot and recovered the drone, taking it into custody. However, BGB has not yet issued an official statement regarding the incident. Md Nazmul Haque, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Patgram Police Station, said he learned about the recovery through social media and added that BGB had not formally communicated the matter to the police. The border district of Lalmonirhat has been frequently in the news, emerging as a potential flashpoint in any escalation due to its hugely strategic location.  As soon as the previous regime led by the Awami League fell, reports started emerging of Bangladesh actively planning to revive the long-abandoned World War II-era Lalmonirhat Airfield (VGLM) to boost regional economic activity, tourism, and industrialization in northern Bangladesh.  Located around 135 km from India’s strategically vital Siliguri Corridor, the initiative prompted concern within Indian defence and strategic circles. But in May 2025, the Director of Military Operations of Bangladesh Army, stated that there are no plans at present for the Lalmonirhat airfield to be used "for military purposes." Rather the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh is focusing on reviving several abandoned airports, with Lalmonirhat being part of this effort to boost the northern economy. Recent reports indicate Chinese interest and potential involvement in the technical aspects of the revival - that again raised alarm bells in Delhi.  It all makes the quiet northern district of Lalmonirhat ripe for precisely the sort of surveillance the BSF drone was actually engaged in, before it crashed due to the said malfunction, or it was brought down by the border protective force's  deployment of the systems brought for them.