Drugs and bullets: on narcotrafficking and targeted killings in Punjab

On October 13, 2026, anti-drug crusader Parvinder Singh Jhota was shot dead during a confrontation at a medical store in Mansa, Punjab. Jhota had gained widespread local support for confronting chemists who allegedly sold addictive pharmaceuticals without valid prescriptions, highlighting grassroots vigilantism amidst persistent public concern over drug abuse.

On October 3, 2026, 29-year-old Amritsar-based social media influencer and makeup artist Madhusudan Sandhu (known as Mad Sandhu) was shot dead by motorcycle-borne shooters. Police investigations revealed that the killing was orchestrated by organized criminal gangs with transnational linkages, who mobilized shooters across multiple states including Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Punjab’s narcotics problem operates across two interconnected levels: local retailers who supply pharmaceutical substances, and transnational crime syndicates that traffic heroin across the international border with Pakistan using drones and couriers. The illicit profits generated from narcotrafficking fund weapons procurement, extortion rackets, and contract killings across northern India.

During 2025 and 2026, Punjab witnessed a troubling wave of targeted assassinations, with motorcycle-borne assailants shooting several police officers, sarpanches, and municipal leaders in districts like Amritsar and Tarn Taran. Security agencies flagged that foreign-based handlers frequently hire marginalized local youth to carry out these low-cost, high-impact contract attacks.

Following high-profile assassinations and drone-facilitated drug smuggling in Punjab, opposition leaders and citizen groups frequently demand federal probes by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Because transnational syndicates operate safe havens abroad and coordinate through inter-state networks, state-level police forces often face jurisdictional constraints in tracking foreign-based handlers.

The ‘Magnitude of Substance Use in India’ report, conducted by the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) at AIIMS and published by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, is India’s definitive national study on addiction. It established that Punjab’s opioid dependence rate (1.28%) is nearly five times higher than the national average (0.26%), driven heavily by heroin and diverted prescription opioids.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) compiles drug-related fatalities in its annual ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India’ (ADSI) report. Public health specialists highlight that these figures represent significant undercounts, as deaths are categorized as overdoses only when police post-mortem investigations explicitly certify fatal toxicity, omitting secondary deaths caused by Hepatitis C, HIV transmission from shared syringes, and long-term organ damage.

Punjab shares a 553-km international border with Pakistan and is situated along the historic smuggling transit corridor originating in the ‘Golden Crescent’ (Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan), the world’s leading opium-producing region. In recent years, traffickers have increasingly adopted commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and subterranean river channels to evade border security fencing and surveillance.

In June 2026, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) published a report titled ‘India’s Role in Global Synthetic Drug Markets’. It noted that while India is a global leader in legitimate pharmaceutical manufacturing, regulatory oversight gaps allow criminal syndicates to divert essential chemical precursors and prescription opioids (such as tramadol and alprazolam) into illegal drug trade networks.

Launched in March 2025 by the Punjab Government, the ‘Yudh Nashian Virudh’ (War Against Drugs) campaign represents an aggressive statewide initiative built on an Enforcement, De-addiction, and Prevention (EDP) framework. While state authorities publicized over 68,850 arrests and ₹319 crore in property attachments under the NDPS Act, legal analysts emphasize that converting initial police seizures into final judicial forfeitures remains exceptionally slow.

Under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, filing an FIR or attaching property (freezing under Section 68F) is only an initial investigative step. Achieving final convictions and permanent asset forfeiture (under Section 68I) requires proving the financial link to narcotics beyond a reasonable doubt, a stage where prosecutions in Punjab frequently encounter delays due to procedural lapses and court backlogs.

Parvinder Singh Jhota gained substantial grassroots popularity by organizing direct public raids against chemists suspected of illegally dispensing habit-forming tablets, streaming these confrontations live on social media. Strong citizen backing for such vigilante action reveals a deep-seated public belief that lodging complaints through conventional police channels is ineffective or compromised by local corruption.

Punjab’s anti-narcotics framework combines enforcement with healthcare interventions, centered around its network of Out-Patient Opioid Assisted Treatment (OOAT) centers that dispense clinical substitution medication (Buprenorphine-Naloxone). Policy analysts emphasize that curb efforts fail if authorities target only retail consumers, urging equal focus on dismantling wholesale trafficking routes, prosecuting compromised officials, and de-stigmatizing medical rehabilitation.

Curbing Punjab’s narcotics crisis requires dismantling systemic institutional collusion, where corrupt local authorities or political figures provide patronage to trafficking networks. Furthermore, the targeted killing of anti-drug crusaders like Parvinder Singh Jhota underscores the absence of a robust grassroots whistleblower and witness protection system in India, leaving civic volunteers acutely exposed to violent gang retaliation.