Karachi:
The use of web platforms and dark social media to obtain medication using cryptocurrency has reached alarming levels, posing new challenges for anti-narcotic efforts in Pakistan. Authorities report an increasing influx of weeds and cocaine from Western and African countries, in parallel with a disturbing passage from plants based on synthetic drugs.
The law enforcement organizations tighten controls on drug trafficking via mail and parcel services – scratches increasingly exploited by traffickers seeking to bypass conventional control points. In the past year, 33 drug trafficking groups, including an eminent Nigerian network, were dismantled.
Smoads also adopt increasingly sophisticated methods to hide narcotics, often hiding them in sports products, surgical instruments and textile expeditions – tactics considered not only as criminals but as attempts to harm Pakistan’s global reputation.
According to Brigadier Syed Imran Ali, the Director of the Application of the Headquarters of the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF), Pakistan, has maintained its status without poppy since 2001, a milestone has reaffirmed this year.
Speaking during a briefing in Karachi, Brigadier Ali noted that the geographic location of Pakistan makes it a key transit path for international drug trafficking. He expressed his concern about the growing use of Dark Web and social media platforms to buy medicines through cryptocurrency, calling it as an increasing threat. Traffickers, he added, are increasingly passing plant substances with synthetic narcotics. The recent ANF operations have revealed significant entries of weeds and cocaine from Western and African countries.
Brigadier Muhammad Umar Farooq, Commander of the Regional Directorate, Sindh, said that an important aspect of the smuggling of drugs implies the mail and parcel system, internationally and national. While Courier’s main offices are equipped with scanners and require documents such as copies of national identity cards and complete addresses of sender and beneficiaries, traffickers operate gaps in the handling of parcels at the neighborhood. Consequently, institutional measures are still reinforced to counter the smuggling of drugs through letters and parcels.
Of the 240 million inhabitants of Pakistan, around 170 million are between 18 and 31 years old. Protecting this vast demography of young people against the scourge of drugs is a national responsibility. While anti-narcotic force (ANF) continues its efforts to limit the smuggling of drugs, there is an urgent need for a general social conscience. Return to this challenge requires collective action in all sectors of the company.
Provide details on the repressions made throughout 2024 and the mid -year period of the current year, spending about a year and a half – and officials said that joint operations with various individuals and institutions have led to a crisis of 452 tonnes of drugs. From this, the ANF alone has recovered more than 244 tonnes, representing more than 58% of all anti-drug operations.
In airports across the country, 436 suspects were arrested and drug smuggling attempts through 373 packages were thwarted. Maritime operations led to the seizure of 19 containers. The efforts to pass drugs in the Gulf countries were also thwarted, resulting in the arrest of 403 suspects and the crisis of 5,783 kilograms of narcotics.
In collaboration with international organizations, 44 maritime operations were carried out against drug trafficking networks, leading to the dismantling of 33 groups, including a Nigerian union.
Attempts to slander Pakistan’s reputation thanks to smuggling drugs hidden in sports products, surgical instruments and textile products have been discovered. The nationals of Afghanistan and Nigeria were more frequently involved in these operations. Meanwhile, Pakistan ranks fifth among the countries most affected by climate change. In accordance with environmental concerns, ANF’s cremasies have confiscated medicines in secure facilities rather than burning them in open fields.
The growing use of drugs in educational institutions is alarming. The ANF has carried out several operations around these institutions, entering 1,420 kilograms of drugs. In total, 363 operations to reduce the propagation of drugs were carried out, which led to the arrest of 421 suspects identified by intelligence as suppliers to students.
Since 2005, rehabilitation efforts have helped 30,000 drug addicts return to normal life. The ANF targets not only the persons involved in the drug trade, but also actively pursues legal action to ensure their conviction. After arrests, the ANF obtained an impressive conviction of 85%.
