How Punjab Police Dismantled Drug Trafficking Networks

Punjab Police's intensive anti-drug drive has successfully dismantled the financial networks of drug traffickers, freezing assets and disrupting narco-hawala operations across the state.

The Punjab Police has systematically dismantled the financial infrastructure of drug-trafficking networks during its intensive anti-drug drive in the past 15 months, striking a severe blow to the narco-hawala syndicates operating across the state, a top police officer said on Sunday.

Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said assets worth Rs 300 crore linked to 750 alleged drug smugglers have been frozen as part of the crackdown.

Focus Shift: Targeting Financial Infrastructure

The Punjab Police has shifted its focus from mere street-level seizures to dismantling the broader economic infrastructure that funds cross-border smuggling, the DGP said.

Since the launch of this crackdown, Punjab Police has been conducting daily operations, simultaneously in all the 28 police districts of the state.

As many as 46,937 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act cases have been registered in the past 15 months under the anti-drug drive, and 65,884 accused have been arrested.

Massive Contraband Recoveries

Enforcement operations have led to massive contraband recoveries including 2,950 kg of heroin, 792 kg of opium, 666 quintals of poppy husk, 71 kg of charas, 986 kg of ganja, 56 kg of ICE (methamphetamine) , and 55 lakh psychoactive pills and tablets, the DGP said.

He said besides massive seizures of narcotics, police teams also recovered Rs 20 crore in cash from the accused.

Targeting Hawala Channels and Financial Disruption

A major breakthrough of the campaign is the aggressive targeting of clandestine hawala channels that move massive profits back to foreign handlers and Pakistan-based suppliers, he said, adding that these networks operate through shell companies, encrypted applications like WhatsApp and Signal, and virtual international numbers.

To counter these evasion tactics, Yadav said police established dedicated financial investigation units (FIUs) in every district to assist the crackdown.

This structural upgrade led to the arrest of 65 hawala operators and the recovery of Rs 8.85 crore in hawala money, he said.

The DGP said a major financial disruption was achieved by freezing assets worth Rs 5.09 crore from Sharma Forex Money Exchange in Phagwara, which laundered money for a Pakistan-based handler via UAE channels.

Highlighting another critical operation during the crackdown, he said police teams recovered Rs 20.55 lakh from a Bikaner-based operator in Ludhiana who managed advance payments from Pakistan-based agents to fund drug couriers.

Similarly, in Amritsar, a narco-arms nexus was exposed with the recovery of Rs 1.24 crore in Indian banknotes along with foreign currency, he said.

Advanced Technology and Intelligence-Led Policing

Terming this unprecedented success, supported by advanced technology and intelligence-led policing, the DGP said, "The integration of the Punjab Artificial Intelligence System (PAIS) revolutionised investigation quality by managing a massive database of 1.36 lakh NDPS FIRs and over 93,000 voice samples."

Yadav further said by shifting focus to identifying entire supply chains through systematic backward and forward linkage analysis in around 43,400 cases, police mapped 45,809 criminal network connections.

Forensic analyses of electronic devices played a pivotal role, with laptops and seized mobile phones providing critical technical evidence required to expose foreign virtual numbers and encrypted communication used by the cartels, he added.