BSF nabs drug smuggler every alternate day in Punjab

Intensifying its crackdown on the drug menace, the Border Security Force (BSF) has nabbed around 350 smugglers since January 2024, averaging one arrest every alternate day, and foiled attempts to push in narcotics and weapons through the 553-km-long India-Pakistan frontier in Punjab.

A majority of the arrests took place in Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Ferozepur districts, which were considered high-risk belts due to frequent intrusion of drones carrying drugs and weapons, said senior BSF officials.

The Centre had extended the BSF’s operational jurisdiction from 15 km to 50 km inside Punjab and a few other border states in October 2021, empowering the force to conduct searches, seizures and arrests in a wider zone. The BSF officials, however, clarified that most of the arrests were made within the original 15-km domain.

“Pakistani smugglers are increasingly using drones and GPS-based delivery methods to evade detection. The high number of arrests shows the force’s commitment to dismantle the cross-border smuggling network,” BSF spokesperson Deputy Inspector General AK Vidyarthi told The Tribune.

Vidyarthi said the BSF arrested 161 smugglers in 2024 while 186 more were nabbed till September 30 this year. He said 16 Pakistani intruders, four Nepalese and three Bangladeshis were among those arrested while three Pakistani infiltrators were neutralised.

A senior BSF official said Pakistan-based smugglers had been asking their Indian counterparts to recruit minors as couriers to exploit legal leniency. “They prefer fresh faces with no prior smuggling record to escape scrutiny,” he said.

To counter the evolving challenge, the BSF has ramped up ground and aerial surveillance, deploying night vision devices, motion sensors and anti-drone systems. Joint operations with the Punjab Police and central agencies had helped in tracing the local conduits of transnational cartels, said the official.