Pakistan’s notoriety in running drug cartels along the International Border in Punjab is well-known. What is not known so far is whether these cartels were involved in lending any kind of tacit support to the July 27 fidayeen terror strike in Gurdaspur. Evidence gathered by the security agencies so far has revealed that the terrorists had crossed over from Shakargarh in Pakistan and being outsiders were unfamiliar with the area. This becomes evident from the fact that they had in their possession GPS devices with the locations of the terror targets fed in them several days before the terror attack on July 21.
“The terrorists may have done reccee of the target locations and It cannot be entirely ruled out if they had been lent support locally,” a top security official said.
The fact that the attack was planned at least a week in advance, shows there were serious lapses on the part of the Punjab police in intelligence gathering and preventing the strike.
The site of the terror attack — Dinanagar police station — in many ways exposes the state of affairs of the state police. The poorly guarded police station in tatters, standing just 15 km from the International Border with Pakistan, reflects the slackness that appears to have crept into the police force, which once fought militancy with an iron hand. However, today Punjab is notorious for its drug cartels and the strong nexus it enjoys with local leaders, mafia, criminal gangs, police force and even some of the border guarding personnel.
A government report points out that drug trafficking in Punjab has grown multi-fold over the years due to the easy availability of drug couriers, digging of tunnels, insertion of pipes through border fencing, and involvement of transnational criminals.
According to a latest report with the security agencies, it is not the drugs being smuggled from across the border that are reason for the drug menace in the state. According to the report, heroin and opium, the two drugs most smuggled, contribute to only five per cent of the substance abuse in Punjab. It is the vast network involving couriers in border villages and they are being paid up to Rs 60,000 per kg for running the racket.
“Little has been done by the state government to rein in these elements who are virtually having a free run. Drug cartels are even being run from inside jails, an official pointed out. Moreover, Pakistani mobile phones are used by Indian smugglers and vice versa to hoodwink intelligence agencies. The BSF has been requesting the home ministry for powers of technical surveillance for mobile and telephone interception as most of the drug transactions are communicated over phone.
According to former Punjab DGP K.P.S. Gill who is credited with rooting out the militancy from Punjab, border security has been unable to keep pace with the changing technology. The porous borders continue to have chinks and sometimes these chinks may be exploited by terrorists, he said.
