Suspected ‘Iranian’ spy drone caught near Pakistan’s Reko Diq gold mine

Pakistani authorities found and seized a drone in Chaghi district of southwestern province of Balochistan on July 19, 2019. (Photo courtesy: Balochistan levies)

• Authorities have launched probe to confirm the identity and ownership of the drone
• Pakistan earlier shot down an Iranian drone in Panjgur in June 2017

KARACHI: Pakistani authorities suspect to have recovered an “Iranian spy drone” in the southwestern Balochistan province, official said on Tuesday. 
“Levies took into possession the drone at Tuzgi Wadh area of Chagi district which is few miles away from Reko Diq (gold) mine,” a local official of Balochistan government told Arab News requesting anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to media. 
He said that an investigation had been launched to identify the country that used the unmanned aerial vehicle in the Pakistani borderlands.
“The drone was later handed over to the frontier corps (FC) Balochistan,” the official added.
The FC is responsible for maintenance of law and order and security and policing in B-areas, including the Chaghi district, of Balochistan.
The official confirmed the report published in BBC Urdu which claimed that the drone “seems to belongs to Iran given the writing on it.” 
“However, it is not fully confirmed whether is it’s an Iranian drone as the place where it has landed is closed to both Iranian and Afghan borders,” he said. “It can be confirmed once investigations are completed.”
However, earlier on Monday, the berlin-based analyst, Ali Özkök, who broke the news on twitter, claimed the drone was an “Iranian MoHajjer-6.”
“An #Iranian MoHajjer-6 drone crashed into #Pakistan’s Baluchistan province,” Özkök tweeted.
Quoting an unnamed official of Balochistan home ministry, BBC Urdu reported the drone was in “good condition which indicates it had landed due to technical reasons.”
The report said it was not the first incident on Iran Pakistan border when a drone was found in a good condition.
Earlier, on June 22, 2017, Pakistan said that it had shot down an Iranian drone in Panjgur after it was found flying inside its territory.
“The drone was hit by Pakistan Air Force as it was unidentified and was flying at around 3-4 km inside Pakistani territory,” a statement issued by foreign office said.