Pakistan Police Install Fishing Nets on Security Outposts to Defend Against Drone Attacks

Police officers in northwest Pakistan have turned to an unlikely and low-cost defense mechanism against militant attacks: ordinary fishing nets strung overhead to block explosives-dropping drones and quadcopters.

The measure was introduced in the Hangu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province following a shift in tactics by armed groups, notably the Tehreek-e-Talinban Pakistan (TTP), which has increasingly paired gunfire and mortars with aerial explosives targeting security outposts.

According to police inspector Fayyaz Khan, the netting system was first installed at the Sarki Piyala police checkpost about two months ago. Since then, no drone attacks have been recorded at the site. The nets are designed to either catch incoming drones, potentially causing them to be defused or stopped, or to cause explosives to detonate mid-air, dispersing shrapnel and reducing the impact on personnel stationed below.

Hangu district police officer Tariq Habib noted that a standard checkpost can be covered with the netting for approximately 400,000 Pakistani rupees ($1,435). Following initial success, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police have expanded the program to vulnerable police stations and checkpoints across at least five other districts, including Kohat, Karak, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, and Dera Ismail Khan, with some military outposts also adopting the system.

Despite the local adoption, security experts remain divided on the effectiveness of the strategy. Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the Centre for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad, described the deployment as an immature and cheap ploy that offers a false sense of security, questioning whether authorities have the broader capacity to intercept drones in flight. Fida Adeel, a Peshawar-based counterterrorism analyst, compared the concept to camouflage nets and Ukrainian adaptations against Russian drones, but emphasized that real-world effectiveness requires proper testing and design.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police spokesman Abdul Salam Khalid defended the measure, stating that formal trials conducted in Kohat demonstrated that dropped explosives failed to detonate upon hitting the mesh. While acknowledging that the nets are not a foolproof solution, officers like Fayyaz Khan maintain that the simple canopy offers a crucial extra layer of reassurance in one of the province's most sensitive regions.