Pakistan Police Turn to Fishing Nets as Low-Cost Defence Against Drone Attacks

Police in northwest Pakistan have adopted an unusual but inexpensive measure to protect their security outposts from drone-borne explosives: heavy fishing nets strung several metres above the ground to form a kind of aerial ceiling over checkposts.

The netting, which resembles the gear used by commercial fishermen, was first installed about two months ago at the Sarki Piyala police checkpost in Hangu district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to local police. Since then, officers say, no drone attacks have occurred at the site.

The measure is a direct response to a shift in the tactics of armed groups operating in the region, which have increasingly paired conventional ground assaults and mortar fire with drones and quadcopters rigged to drop explosives. Hangu, located roughly 30km (18 miles) from the border with Afghanistan, has become one of the most dangerous districts in the province, with police recording at least 16 attacks there this year.

Police inspector Fayyaz Khan, 40, recalled the April 16 assault on Sarki Piyala, when drones carrying explosives were dropped on the checkpost before fighters from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), commonly known as the Pakistan Taliban, opened fire from all sides. The confrontation lasted about seven hours, killed the driver of an armoured vehicle and wounded a constable. The TTP claimed responsibility for the attack.

"There was a great deal of fear because we were in the middle of a battle. At that moment, we did not even know whether we would make it back home alive," Khan told Al Jazeera. He said the nets now offer a practical line of defence. If a drone flies over the checkpoint, it could become entangled and be disabled or stopped. Even if a device explodes above the netting, he explained, most of the shrapnel and fragments would disperse in the air rather than fall directly onto officers below, substantially reducing the risk of casualties.

Hangu district police officer Tariq Habib said a standard checkpost can be covered with the nets for about 400,000 Pakistani rupees ($1,435), making it a remarkably cheap solution compared with more sophisticated counter-drone technology. He said the system has been introduced at vulnerable police stations and checkposts to lessen the impact of drone and quadcopter attacks, and that more nets are being installed across the district. Police in Hangu have requested additional funding from the provincial government to expand the programme, and the request is under review.

The approach has spread beyond Hangu. A spokesman for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police said the nets have been deployed at checkpoints and police posts in at least five other vulnerable districts: Kohat, Karak, Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan. Even military outposts at some sites in the province have adopted the anti-drone netting system, according to the spokesman.

Police officer Zeeshan Khan, who works in the area, said no drone or quadcopter attacks have taken place at Sarki Piyala and the nearby Baliamena checkposts since the nets were erected. He described the netting as "an extra layer of security" for personnel and estimated that the arrangements could reduce potential losses by 40 to 50 percent if an attack does occur.

The new tactic reflects the broader deterioration of security in Pakistan's northwestern regions, where armed attacks have increased in recent years, mainly targeting police and military personnel. Many of the attacks have been claimed by the TTP, which says it is fighting to establish a Taliban-style, religious-driven government in Pakistan. Pakistani officials have repeatedly accused Kabul's Taliban administration of providing the TTP with safe haven on Afghan soil and have demanded that it prevent cross-border attacks. Kabul has denied the accusations, calling the attacks Islamabad's domestic security problem.

The threat has proved deadly for Hangu's security forces. On July 29, attackers stormed a police outpost using quadcopters rigged with bombs before launching a ground ambush, killing at least 11 police officers and wounding 28. Fifteen attackers were also killed in the hours-long assault, which the TTP claimed. On September 20, another exchange of fire in Hangu killed six soldiers and eight attackers, according to the Pakistani army. That attack came two days after another armed group, Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan, killed 23 people, including 16 police officers, and bombed a mosque in coordinated attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Kohat district.

The fishing-net solution highlights the resource constraints facing Pakistan's police in remote, conflict-prone districts, where high-tech counter-drone systems are often unavailable or too costly to deploy at scale. By contrast, the netting draws on locally available materials and can be installed quickly with minimal training. Officers in Hangu described the mesh as patched together with rope and wire, stretched between rooftops and perimeter walls to create a protective canopy beneath which personnel in bullet-resistant vests keep watch.

For communities living near these outposts, the frequent violence has reshaped daily life, with the constant risk of attacks limiting movement and economic activity. While the nets are not a comprehensive answer to the drone threat, police say they have already changed conditions at some of the most exposed positions. The provincial government's decision on additional funding could determine how widely the low-cost measure is adopted across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where security forces continue to face a persistent and evolving insurgency.