Drugs and bullets: On narcotrafficking and targeted killings in Punjab

A chemist has been charged with killing anti-drug-trafficking activist Parvinder Singh Jhota after his allegedly illegal drug business came under threat. Separately, social media influencer Mad Sandhu was allegedly the victim of a premeditated, transnational syndicate hit that used inter-State escape routes. Both events in Punjab involved digital platforms and both events expose a dire gap in public safety. While Mr. Jhota’s alleged murderer was a local chemist, the macro-level drug trade in Punjab is intertwined with gangster networks, with the cross-border drug smuggling known to be a key source of illicit funds. Together with a string of targeted killings of police personnel and local politicians, the incidents depict a Punjab caught between local drug trafficking and citizens resorting to vigilantism and crime syndicates carrying out assassinations with disquieting ease. Some events have also raised suspicions of cross-border support and a demand to involve enforcement agencies. The AIIMS Magnitude of Substance Use in India survey estimated that in 2017-18 — the latest year for which it is available — 1.28% of Punjab’s population aged 10-75 years had an opioid dependence, versus 0.26% nationally. NCRB data also recorded 106 drug overdose deaths in 2024 versus 89 in 2023, in Punjab, likely an undercount since attribution depends on medical certification and excludes long-term complications and unhygienic habits associated with drug use.

Punjab’s geopolitical location renders it an important entry point and market, with the security apparatus hampered by smugglers using multiple transport modes. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime reported in June that India’s pharmaceutical and chemicals industries also provide bad actors with ample opportunities to divert controlled substances or precursors for illicit use. The State’s ‘Yugh Nashian Virudh’ campaign of 2025 has also claimed 68,850 arrests of alleged traffickers and the attachment or confiscation of assets valued ₹319 crore. However, cases registered differ from convictions and asset attachment differs from forfeiture. Mr. Jhota’s hostile tactics also enjoyed public support, and authorities need to examine why the people are overlooking formal reporting channels. Under its narcotics policy, the State has to reduce the availability of harmful drugs, disrupt wholesale supply chains, identify corrupt facilitators, and expand access to rehabilitative care. Paralleling investigations into the coordination of targeted killings, an anti-trafficking strategy must also probe the financing and logistics of networks, to dismantle institutional collusion, and better protect threatened individuals.