The April 16 attack on the Sarki Piyala police checkpost in Hangu, about 30km from the Afghan border, was claimed by the TTP. Militants fired from multiple sides after hitting the post with drones. Police inspector Fayyaz Khan, who was at the post, described the fear of that battle: "At that moment, we did not even know whether we would make it back home alive."
In response, Hangu police devised a simple solution: black fishing nets strung several metres overhead between rooftops and perimeter walls. The nets were first installed two months ago, and since then, Khan said, no drone attacks have occurred at Sarki Piyala. "If a drone comes over the checkpoint, there is a possibility that it could get caught in the net and be defused or stopped," he told Al Jazeera. "Even if a drone does not get caught and explodes above the net, the damage is expected to be much less because most of the shrapnel and fragments would be dispersed in the air."
District police officer Tariq Habib confirmed that the netting system is being deployed at vulnerable stations and checkposts. "The police have introduced the netting system at vulnerable police stations and checkposts to reduce the impact of drone and quadcopter attacks," he said.
The nets have attracted attention as an inexpensive countermeasure to a growing threat. The TTP, which has long operated in the border region, has increasingly used consumer drones to drop explosives. The approach in Hangu highlights the ingenuity required when resources are scarce, though experts caution that militants may eventually adapt their tactics to bypass the nets.