Chandigarh, Dec 30 (IANS): Amid increasing cases of smuggling of weapons and drugs via drone drops in the border state, the Punjab government on Wednesday said it has decided to enhance the counter-terrorism capacity of its police force and establish a special purpose vehicle to augment its technological capacity to counter cross-border terrorism.

Part of the sweeping restructuring changes approved for the Police Department by the state cabinet, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, the special purpose vehicle can hire experts and consultants in frontline areas of police technology.

DGP Dinkar Gupta said the special purpose vehicle will work on establishing a unified communication network of senior police, and civil officers, besides undertaking the development and deployment of an online intelligence sharing platform.

It will also work on setting up a state grid as a network of databases about arms, arms license holders, arms dealers, vehicles and suspects.

The decision to set up the special purpose vehicle comes amid growing attempts by Pakistan-based forces to revive terrorism in the state, as evident from the number of arrests and seizures made this year.

As of December 28, Punjab has witnessed the arrest of 66 terrorists, with 12 modules busted in 2020.

Seven drones have been captured, while 21 hand grenades, four rifles, 28 revolvers, and pistols have been recovered since January 1.