Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday said remotely operated drones were emerging as force multipliers in the hands of criminals and the State’s law enforcement required to catch up.
He was inaugurating the State police department’s ‘Drone Forensic Laboratory’ at the Kerala State Police CyberDome. Mr. Vijayan said the facility would help investigators gain an edge over those who operate drones for illegal purposes.
The police have forayed strongly into the relatively new field of drone forensics. It had recently analysed a drone brought down by the Border Security Force (BSF) near the international border in Kathua district in Jammu and Kashmir and helped the local enforcement zero in on its illegal operator.
The forensic experts sifted through the device’s storage/memory card, dissected its software and hardware and studied the networking details. An analysis of its GPS module revealed the locations the drone had traversed over and its operational history.
Smuggling drugs
A senior official said drones posed a new set of challenges for the police. Criminals could use them for smuggling contraband. A repurposed industrial drone could easily cart 2.5 kg of marijuana across rugged border terrain. Lawbreakers could kit drones out with crude explosives and drop the payload on their targets remotely.
They could use drones to spy on others, peek inside high-rise apartments and eavesdrop on conversations with audio sensors. Offenders could use drones to breach no-fly zones or scan strategic locations.
Ban in 2019
The State police had banned the use of unregistered drones in 2019. Moreover, it had set limits on where owners could deploy them. For instance, drones are banned from whizzing over crowds or restricted airspace.
However, the ban has remained largely on paper. Scores of persons operate unregistered drones for recreational or amateur filming purposes. The police have also sensed a rise in the use of homemade drones.
Tough to track
Investigators said that drones left no physical evidence behind, making it difficult for the police to capture their remote operators. “Unlike a classic crime scene, drones leave no DNA evidence, fingerprints or digital signature behind. The police are often left clueless. Drones hold an appeal for criminals because they are difficult to track, trace and intercept,” an official said.
CyberDome hoped to aid the police capture and analyse data from captured or recovered drones. “We could use the data to identify when and where the drone was used and perhaps who flew it. It could lead us to the perpetrator and the motive,” he said.
State Police Chief Anil Kant and nodal officer, Cyberdome, Manoj Abraham, ADGP, are heading the unit.
