Do you remember the news of a drone carrying drugs falling near Kahna?
This year in July a drone carrying six kilograms of drugs, worth millions of rupees, crashed in the outskirts of Lahore. Recently a case has been registered against a senior official of the Lahore police, who headed the anti-narcotics wing of the city police, for alleged involvement in cross-border drug smuggling via drones.
Lahore Deputy Inspector General (Investigation) Imran Kishwar confirmed the “involvement of a DSP”, saying that the official was booked by the ANF.
“We have constituted a high-powered committee of senior police officers to further expand the scope of the investigation into the illegal cross-border smuggling of the drug,” the DIG told Dawn.
He said that Lahore SSP Internal Accountability (IAB) Tauqeer Naeem would head the committee while SP Crime Record Officer Aftab Phularwan and a DSP would assist him in this matter.
According to departmental sources, the issue was escalated to the prime minister after reports suggested that some elements were sending drugs from Kasur to India through drones. They further suggested that a gang of drug traffickers were using unmanned aerial vehicles to smuggle huge quantities of methamphetamine (locally known as ice) from Lahore to India.
Sources said a drone could carry up to six kilograms of drugs, which would be delivered at a given location in Indian Punjab after flying across the border.
Departmental action has already been initiated against the police officer, DIG said, adding that further proceedings would be made in the light of the inquiry report.
The use of technology to smuggle drugs sent alarm bells ringing in ANF, evident from recent arrests made by the force.
A subsequent probe revealed that DSP Mazhar Iqbal, who secured interim bail after a case was registered against him, was also involved in the alleged smuggling.
The smugglers on both sides of the border were using “some means of communication to get alerts about the delivery of the drug”, the officials said.
They added that payments against these drugs would be made in the UAE.
