Drone Menace: Pakistan’s Aerial Smuggling Poses Major National Security Peril
NCB report exposes drone smuggling surge threatening security.
A dramatic rise in drug-laden drones infiltrating India from Pakistan has emerged as a major peril to national security, particularly along the Punjab border, warns the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in its 2024 annual report. Released by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the 2nd National Conference of Heads of Anti-Narcotics Task Forces (ANTF), the report reveals a "sharp" escalation in drone sightings and seizures over the past four years, replacing outdated smuggling tactics with high-tech threats that challenge border security.
The NCB, a key agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs, highlighted the Punjab districts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, and Gurdaspur as hotspots. In 2024 alone, agencies recorded 179 drone-related drug trafficking cases—up from a mere three in 2021—with 163 incidents in Punjab, 15 in Rajasthan, and one in Jammu and Kashmir. These operations yielded about 236 kg of primarily heroin and opium, underscoring the drones' role in evading traditional patrols.
The report also flags a sixfold surge in synthetic drug seizures nationwide from 2019 to 2024, totaling 11,994 kg in 2024 compared to 1,890 kg in 2019. Substances like amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), MDMA, mephedrone, and methaqualone—popular among youth—are driving this boom due to their profitability and demand. Seizures fluctuated yearly: 1,989 kg in 2020, 657 kg in 2021, 4,216 kg in 2022, and 4,209 kg in 2023.
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Maritime smuggling has exploded too, with 10,564 kg seized from sea routes in 2024—a nearly 500-fold increase from 2019. India's prime position in the Indian Ocean makes it a heroin transit point from Afghanistan's southern route. The 'Death Crescent' (Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan) supplies heroin, ATS, and hashish via western ports like Chabahar, Gwadar, and Karachi, while the 'Death Triangle' (Myanmar, Laos, Thailand) fuels eastern methamphetamine flows.
Cocaine seizures hit a record 1,483 kg in 2024, 78 times higher than 2020's figures and five times 2023's. Mephedrone, the notorious 'meow meow' party drug, jumped to 3,359 kg seized from 275 kg in 2020. Injectable drugs pose a growing risk, with over 275,000 units (worth Rs 4.54 crore) confiscated in 2024, especially in Punjab and Maharashtra.
Enforcement ramped up under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PITNDPS) Act, issuing 531 detention orders—leading to 483 detentions—versus 93 in 2020. This tool targets cartels, kingpins, and financiers with one- to two-year preventive detentions.
The report spotlights a new menace: mescaline, a synthetic hallucinogen, with 25.04 kg seized in 2024, signaling a pivot to potent psychedelics. As anti-narcotics efforts intensify, the NCB urges stronger collaboration to dismantle these networks and safeguard India's youth from the drug epidemic.
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