New Delhi, Sep 18 (IANS) : Earlier this month, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the war on drugs had entered an intensive mission mode for 2026-29, making it clear that this objective of making the country drug-free would be achieved under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even as Indian agencies warn that Pakistan is looking to ramp up narcotics smuggling into India on a very large scale.
Intercepts suggest that multiple meetings have been held between officials of the ISI, members of the Dawood Ibrahim syndicate and other narcotics smugglers in recent weeks.
An Intelligence Bureau official said that the latest meeting that was held last month in Lahore, discussed multiple ways of pushing more drugs into India through the borders of both Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.
The ISI not only wants more money to fund terror groups, but also seeks to challenge the Narendra Modi administration, which has launched a massive attack on narcotics smuggling, the official added.
An official said that the next couple of months would be extremely challenging.
Going by the intercepts that have been picked up in Pakistan, the writing on the wall is clear. The agencies do not just have to battle against the existing networks and tactics, but will also have to counter emerging tactics that the ISI would look to deploy, the official said.
While the ISI wants the primary focus of narcotic smuggling to be at the borders with Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, it is also looking at other borders as well.
Pakistan will look to work closely with the cartels operating at the Golden Triangle, the border region where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet. This cartel focuses extensively on heroin and synthetic drug trafficking, the official said.
Another official said that the smuggling at the Golden Triangle affects the northeastern states the most.
The ISI is known to have backed several insurgent groups in this region and would look to help them raise funds with the help of drug money, the official said. The ISI is aware that the northeast is a sensitive region and hence, along with the push being made in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, it would look to focus on this region as well, the official said.
Pakistan also has the southern states very much on its radar as well. The likes of Haji Salim focus immensely on this region.
If one notices the pattern, the ISI has been backing Salim heavily so that he can ramp up operations in the southern states, officials say.
With the agencies being on a relentless pursuit of narcotics smugglers, the recent meetings held in Lahore indicate that they want to corner India from all sides.
It is a three-pronged approach that is aimed at raising funds for terror, stressing the Indian agencies, and also challenging the Narendra Modi government’s vision of a drug-free India.
Officials point out that the ISI has instructed its cartels and stooges not to rely only on drones for narcotics smuggling. The instruction is to use every tool at its disposal to push drugs into India.
In this battle against narcotics smuggling, the Indian agencies would not just deal with the drones, but also smuggling that takes place using the land and sea routes. In addition to this, the ISI has also instructed the drug cartels to ramp up recruitment in India specifically to push drugs within the country.
These cartels have been majorly challenged by the Indian security agencies, owing to which they are falling short of carriers to supply drugs. This explains the decision to spruce up recruitment in India.
Between 2014 and 2026, statistics show that the law enforcement agencies have registered 8,75,000 cases and arrested 10,97,000 people, including smugglers, carriers and individuals linked to drug networks.
In the previous decade between 2004 and 2014, the number of arrests stood at 1,95,000. Further, 747 foreign nationals, primarily from Nigeria, Nepal, and Myanmar, were arrested in 2025, compared to the 660 and 735 arrests made in 2024 and 2023, respectively. Additionally, five high-profile traffickers such as Salim Dola have been extradited from countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia.
These statistics show the scale of the war against drugs and explain clearly why the ISI keeps re-strategising and is also looking to ramp up recruitment in India, an official said.
