Haryana emerging as 'drug corridor' for inter-state traffickers

Haryana is receiving narcotics smuggled from neighbouring as well as far away states. From poppy fields of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Bihar to the charas (hashish) of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jammu & Kashmir; from ganja (marijuana) farms of Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh to pharmaceutical hubs of Himachal’s Baddi, Uttarakhand, Delhi, and Punjab — drugs are flowing steadily into the state.

A data of the Haryana State Narcotics Control Bureau (HSNCB) reveals Haryana is emerging as a consumption hub of drugs from several states. A senior police official said Haryana’s location bordering Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan, UP and Himachal Pradesh makes it a corridor for traffickers for supply chains from nearly every direction. Sirsa, Fatehabad, Dabwali, Ambala, Hisar, Panipat, Yamunanagar, Jind, Kaithal, Panchkula, and Kuruksherta have emerged as heroin hotspots, while UP’s Saharanpur, Bareilly, Aligarh, and even West Bengal’s Nadiaya have fed the supply lines, the data said.

The HSNCB data further reveals that the ganja belt stretches across Gurugram, Faridabad, Palwal, Jhajjar, Rewari, Karnal, Jind and Bhiwani. Ambala, Panchkula, Kaithal, Panipat, Sonepat, Rohtak, Jind, Hisar, and Yamunanagar are emerging as the hub of charas. Similarly, Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar, Dabwali, Kurukshetra, Karnal and Kaithal form the opium hotspot cluster. The abuse of pharmaceutical drugs – tablets, injections, syrups and capsules -- spreads across Yamunanagar, Karnal, Panipat, Rohtak, Panchkula, Ambala, Nuh and Kurukshetra. The Sirsa-Fatehabad-Hisar belt dominates poppy straw trade, with Kurukshetra, Karnal, and Kaithal close behind. Gurugram, Faridabad, Dabwali and Panchkula have also become centres for high-profile synthetic drug abuse, with MDMA, LSD and cocaine trafficked via Delhi, Kolkata, and Uttar Pradesh.

The HSNCB registered 188 FIRs, including 50 commercial quantity (CQ) cases, and arrested 341 people from January to August this year. Between 2020 and August this year, 1,620 FIRs led to 2,823 arrests, with 244 commercial, 981 intermediate and 295 small quantity cases. This year alone, 2,462 NDPS cases have been registered across Haryana, leading to 4,162 arrests and 307 CQ seizures. HSNCB’s share of statewide seizures between January and August 2025 was significant: pharmaceuticals (16.66 per cent), opium (13.82 per cent), poppy straw (13.11 per cent), and charas (9.94 per cent).

OP Singh, Director General, HSNCB, said they had been monitoring the routes and breaking the supply chain of drug peddlers. “The HSNCB’s policy is zero tolerance to drugs. We not only seize narcotics, but also dismantle the source and destination of trafficking. We are breaking the inter-state networks of the drug peddlers to curb drug trafficking in the state,” he said.

Singh claimed that a comprehensive campaign of the Haryana Police proved that if law enforcement and social awareness were combined, any major social crisis could be eradicated from the roots. The rising number of drug-free villages and wards, increasing conviction rates, property seizures worth crores, and preventive detention orders were proof that Haryana was leading the way in realizing the dream of a drug-free India. This efforts would serve not only Haryana but the entire nation as an inspiration and a milestone in the fight against narcotics.