Kolkata: An unidentified aircraft entered Indian air space in North Dinajpur
district of West Bengal on October 3 and reportedly dropped two objects resembling
sacks, a senior district official said.
Villagers of Chopra said the aircraft dropped the two 'sacks' into a pond in the
afternoon, the official from Raiganj said.
The villagers also reported that they heard a loud noise when the objects were
dropped, he said.
The police were dragging the pond, but nothing had been found till late evening, he
said.
Border Security Force (BSF) Additional DIG (North Bengal) Frontier P P
Gupta, when contacted, said 'something' happened though he was unable to
give any detail.
Speaking to reporters, he said that he had asked his nearest unit to rush to
the spot and report back to the headquarters.
Air Traffic Control (ATC) at the N S C Bose International Airport at Kolkata
also expressed ignorance about the intrusion.
Regional Executive Director of the Airport Authority of India, N K Puri said
that the area of intrusion fell within the Kolkata Flight Information Region
but the plane had not been detected by ATC tower radar at Kolkata airport.
"The plane perhaps was flying very low and therefore could not be detected
by the radar," he said.
Sources said there is a big gap in radar coverage in the Eastern sector as
well as in the Western sector, which Indian Air Force is trying to beef up.
Chopra Panchayat Samiti chairperson Namita Ray said there were two small
aircraft, one flying low over Mukdumgach village in Chopra police station
area in the district between 12:15 hours and 12:30 hours.
She said the low-flying plane dropped some objects into a large
hyacinth-covered pond.
Ray said there was a sound of an explosion as the objects touched water
which turned 'blue' immediately afterwards.
Residents of neighbouring villages panicked at the sound of the explosion
believing bombs had been dropped but later mustered courage and converged on
the pond, she said.
She said she was the first to inform the Chopra police station.
PTI
