Panjab Accounted for 58% of Total Indian Heroin Seizure; Drug-Addicts Exploited

June

2026

A report by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) states that Panjab accounted for 58% (2,086 of 3,567 kg) of total heroin seizure in 2025. The report further notes that Panjab, Rajasthan, and Jammu and Kashmir remain highly vulnerable to trans-border drug trafficking from Pakistan. The report said that drone-based drug trafficking along the India-Pakistan border reached a ‘historic’ high, showing a 70% increase in cases, and the seizure of 468 kg of drugs post 2024. The report also expressed concern over the ‘diversion’ of pharma drugs for abuse, especially in Panjab, where 895,508 codeine-based cough syrup bottles were seized in 2025—the highest among all states in India. Additionally, the Patiala Excise Department has arrested multiple accused, and seized substantial quantities of illicit, spurious and smuggled liquor in a raid. The raid led to the seizure of refilled bottles with counterfeit premium brand seals that were meant to be sold as high-end Scotch, posing consumer fraud and serious health risks. 34 bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor Wazir Deluxe, 49 empty Black Label bottles, 10 empty Black Dog Gold Reserve bottles, eight empty 100 Pipers bottles, along with fake cap seals and packaging materials of multiple premium brands were recovered in the raid. The Patiala Excise Department has registered three First Information Reports in the matter. Meanwhile, drug syndicates and organized gangs in Panjab are exploiting vulnerable, drug-addicted youth, by turning them into hitmen and using them to carry out violent attacks, lob grenades, or do contract killings for as little as USD 60–80. Furthermore, a man’s Aadhaar (Identity) card was misused by a government-run de-addiction center in Khanna to illegally issue medicines in his name. Tarsem Lal Bhardwaj, from Beeja village, Ludhiana district, filed a complaint alleging that his Aadhaar card was misused by the Khanna De-addiction center to issue 98 tablets of Buprenorphine and Naloxone between 9–19 Oct 2023. He further alleged that the entries were uploaded on the relevant official portal without his knowledge or consent. Concurrently, over 90K victims of substance abuse received treatment between March 2025–May 2026 through Panjab government’s anti-drug campaign—Yudh Nashean Virudh (War on drugs) (earlier coverage).