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Police in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have strung fishing nets several metres above vulnerable checkpoints. The aim is to catch explosive-carrying drones or to limit the damage if a device detonates above the post. Al Jazeera’s October 5, 2026 report from Hangu describes it mainly as a police measure. It adds that some military outposts in the province use the system too. Nobody has shown that it works.
What was installed, and where
At Sarki Piyala in Hangu, nets were put up about two months before Al Jazeera’s story. They stretch between rooftops and perimeter walls, several metres above the checkpoint. The mesh is patched together with rope and wire. The report names no net model, material grade or technical specification.
The headline framing, “army posts,” is broader than the evidence. The detailed reporting concerns police checkpoints. Al Jazeera says some military outposts at sites in the province also use nets, but it does not establish a province-wide military rollout.
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Other locations
- Hangu’s district police officer, Tariq Habib, said nets are going up at more police stations in the district. A request for provincial funding is under review.
- A provincial police spokesman said nets are installed in at least five other vulnerable districts: Kohat, Karak, Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan.
- A September 15, 2026 Pakistan Press Foundation item, republishing an Associated Press of Pakistan report, separately describes protective nets at sensitive police stations and checkpoints in Peshawar and other parts of the province.
Neither report gives a full list of installations.
Why the Sarki Piyala post got nets
Al Jazeera identifies an April 16 attack on the post as a key impetus. Police inspector Fayyaz Khan recalled a roughly seven-hour confrontation. He said explosive-carrying drones struck first and TTP fighters then opened fire. He said an armoured-vehicle driver was killed and a constable injured. The report says the TTP claimed the attack. These details come from the officer and the report, not from independent verification.
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Why fishing nets?
Al Jazeera’s subheading calls the nets a “low-cost solution in sensitive areas prone to deadly attacks.” Police describe two possible effects:
- Entanglement. A drone passing over the post might snag before releasing its payload. Khan said: “If a drone comes over the checkpoint, there is a possibility that it could get caught in the net and be defused or stopped.”
- Standoff detonation. A blast above the canopy might send fragments away from the people underneath.
Khan was careful about the limits: “We cannot say that the netting system provides complete protection.”
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What it costs
Habib told Al Jazeera that covering a standard checkpoint costs about 400,000 Pakistani rupees ($1,435). That is an approximate local figure from an official, reported October 5, 2026. It is not a market price or the cost of any named product. No comparable cost figures for other counter-drone measures appear in the reporting, so a cost-effectiveness comparison cannot be made.
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What evidence exists that it works
Police claims
- Officer Zeeshan Khan said no drone or quadcopter attacks have occurred at Sarki Piyala and the nearby Baliamena checkpoints since installation. He called the nets an “extra layer of security” and estimated they cut potential losses by 40 to 50 percent. This is an officer’s estimate, not a measured result. An absence of attacks also does not show the nets deterred or stopped any.
- Police spokesman Abdul Salam Khalid described a trial in Kohat in which an explosive dropped on a net did not detonate. No protocol, device details, measurements or independent confirmation were published.
Analyst scepticism
- Fida Adeel, a Peshawar-based counterterrorism and security analyst, said: “The extent of protection can only be determined through proper testing.” He said protection depends on design and deployment.
- Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies, warned that nets at selected sites could create a false sense of security. He noted that police stations are not always the target. He argued the harder question is whether institutions can intercept drones soon after launch. In his words: “The drones are intended to hit prominent locations and generate dramatic optics.”
How the approach compares with other defences
| Axis | Overhead nets (as reported) | Detection and interception |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Passive physical barrier over one site | Finding and stopping drones before or soon after launch, which Gul says is the pressing question |
| Cost | About 400,000 rupees ($1,435) per standard checkpost, per Habib | Not stated in the reporting |
| Evidence | Police estimate and one unpublished trial claim; no independent testing | Not assessed in the reporting |
| Coverage | Only where installed; the sites chosen may not be the ones attacked | Not stated |
What to take away
- The measure is improvised and local. Treat it as a stopgap, not a validated counter-drone system.
- Ordinary retail fishing nets should not be assumed to protect against drones. The reporting names no product, strength or mounting standard.
- The one performance number, 40 to 50 percent, is an officer’s estimate. Proper testing, as Adeel said, would be needed to say more.
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