Drug Lord Busted, But Cartel Still Operates Near Indo-Pak Border

Cross-Border Links

Posted by AI on 2025-07-15 16:55:42 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-08-13 08:09:30

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Drug syndicates operating on a transnational scale are notoriously difficult to disrupt. Their versatile and interconnected nature means that, like a game of Whac-a-Mole, when one node is targeted, others will inevitably spring up in its place. This has been demonstrated in recent events near the India-Pakistan border.

The efforts of the Punjab Police saw the arrest of a key drug lord, identified as Ashraf Ali. Ali, a resident of Lahore, had been wanted in connection with a 2018 drug seizure, in which 3 kilograms of heroin had been intercepted on the Indian side of the border. Yet, despite this breakthrough, officers reportedly warned that the Ahmedani International Drug Cartelof which Ali is suspected of being a key playerwas likely to continue its nefarious activities.

Director General of Police (Border) S.P.S. Parmar stated that "there are many more gangs operating in Pakistan and Iran. We have specific inputs about them. We will take action against them as well." This cautionary statement highlights the increasingly precarious situation India finds itself in, wedged as it is between a heroin-producing Afghanistan and a consumption-driven Pakistan.

This recent bust has thrown up a number of questions relating not just to the particular dynamics and geography of the region, but also the challenges of combating drug cartels operating across international borders. Who are the cartels operating in this region, and how are they able to operate with such apparent impunity? Just how resilient is the infrastructure of these cartels, and what does this mean for efforts to combat drug trafficking in the region? These are questions we need to ask if we are to have any hope of providing answers.

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