Islamabad drug dealers have increasingly shifted to messaging apps and enlisted beggars as couriers to continue supplying narcotics following a police crackdown.
According to police officials, traffickers now use online platforms to arrange drug sales and offer home delivery across the federal capital. They have said beggars had been recruited to deliver narcotics at designated locations after many professional peddlers were identified or arrested.
Police data showed that between January 1 and July 22, authorities arrested 1,002 suspected drug peddlers and registered 966 cases. During the same period, officers seized 168,337 grams of charas, 102,183 grams of heroin, 110,110 grams of ice (crystal methamphetamine), 11 pills and 9,901 bottles of wine.
Educational institutions remained a key focus of enforcement, officials said. Police arrested 102 suspects near schools and universities and registered 98 cases. Seized were 20,240 grams of charas, 12,164 grams of heroin, 18,984 grams of ice, four pills and 20 bottles of wine.
Officials have said that messaging apps are widely used to facilitate drug sales, particularly around universities. Home deliveries are also made to commercial and residential areas in affluent sectors, as well as to parties and music concerts, where younger users are often targeted.
To counter the trend, police coordinated with university administrations. Delivery riders entering educational institutions are now physically checked, while the Safe City Islamabad Authority has installed surveillance cameras around campuses. Police and educational institutions have also designated focal persons to improve coordination.
Officials alleged that narcotics are smuggled into Islamabad from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa using various modes of transport, with goods vehicles commonly used to conceal shipments. They said middlemen operate from the city’s outskirts, including Tarnol and Bhara Kahu, while Doray village has long been known as a drug trafficking hub.
Officials pointed out that both organic and synthetic drugs are available in the capital and prosecuted under the same law, although they argued that harsher penalties should apply to suppliers of synthetic drugs because of their greater harm.
One kilogram of charas sells for Rs50,000, opium for Rs90,000, heroin for Rs70,000, ice for Rs1 million and cocaine for Rs1.2 million, while an ecstasy pill costs Rs1,000, police officials have stated.
