Crackdown on drug smugglers: Punjab freezes assets worth Rs 600 cr in 2 years
Assets worth approximately Rs 330 crore were frozen in 2024, while properties valued at around Rs 270 crore were frozen in 2025
Punjab Police has frozen more than Rs 600 crore worth of illegally acquired properties linked to drug traffickers in the last two years, marking a major milestone in the state's ongoing crackdown on the narcotics economy.
Significantly, Punjab accounted for 50 per cent of all properties frozen across India in drug cases in 2024, underlining the state's leading role in the national war against drugs.
The crackdown reflects a significant shift in enforcement priorities — from merely arresting offenders and seizing narcotics to systematically targeting the illicit wealth generated through drug trafficking. Assets worth approximately Rs 330 crore were frozen in 2024, while properties valued at around Rs 270 crore were frozen in 2025. Together, the two-year total of over Rs 600 crore accounts for more than half of the nearly Rs 1,000 crore worth of assets frozen since 2017.
A Punjab police spokesperson said the crackdown on illegal wealth is a deliberate strategy to dismantle the incentive structure sustaining the drug trade. "We are following what is among India's most aggressive and financially intelligent anti-drug enforcement models. We are not only catching smugglers, but dismantling the financial empires built on drugs," he said.
"Drug trafficking thrives on the promise of huge illegal profits. Our strategy is to destroy that incentive by systematically targeting and freezing assets created from drug money. When traffickers realise that their properties, land and wealth can be confiscated, the economic foundation of the drug trade begins to collapse. Economic disruption and financial warfare against drug trafficking is therefore a central pillar of Punjab Police's anti-drug strategy," the official added.
The official noted that in earlier years, even when traffickers were arrested, their properties often remained untouched, allowing networks to regroup and continue operations through associates or family members.
"By aggressively freezing such assets, Punjab Police is ensuring that illegal gains cannot be protected or passed on within the ecosystem of the drug trade. Financial investigation and forfeiture of properties and assets is now our core strategy. The state accounted for 50 per cent of all properties frozen in 2024 in drug cases in the country," he said.
Punjab Police investigations now routinely track proceeds of drug crime through properties, bank accounts, shell companies, benami holdings and luxury assets. Residential houses, commercial establishments, agricultural land and high-value vehicles acquired illegally have been identified and frozen under relevant provisions of law. Across several districts, these properties now stand frozen, sending a strong signal that wealth generated from narcotics will not remain beyond the reach of law enforcement.
The crackdown forms an important pillar of the Punjab Government's ‘Yudh Nashean Virudh’ (War Against Drugs) campaign, which aims to combat the narcotics menace through coordinated enforcement, prevention and rehabilitation measures.
