The Punjab Police and central security
agencies, already grappling with drone-dropped narcotics, local smuggling
networks and cross-border operatives, are facing another major challenge: the
growing use of “dead drops” to conceal drugs, arms and ammunition.
Dead drops are a covert method used by drug smugglers
to conceal narcotics substances. It is a pre-arranged secret location where the
drugs are normally stored. Once the supply enters the state, not all of it
reaches the market. A considerable amount of the narcotics substances is hidden
deep inside the ground, and this method is known as a dead drop.
An official said the
dead drop problem is not limited to Punjab alone. Such dead drops are found in
all places in the country where the drugs make their first entry point. The
dead drop method is used in the northeast, South India and other locations
where the drugs enter the country first.
While the agencies across the country have made
significant progress when it comes to battling the narcotics menace, the
problem they are faced with is identifying the dead drops, the official said.
While several dead drop points have been identified with the help of those
arrested, several spots remain undiscovered.
Narcotic smugglers intentionally choose to
leave these spots alone for the time being. They are ready to hold on to those
spots without touching them for periods spanning between three and eight
months. The dead drop point is accessed after a thorough assessment of the
security situation.
Once they feel that the agencies have lost
their trail, then such dead drop points are opened up and the narcotics
supplied into the markets, officials say. Another official said that the dead
drop method is not limited to narcotics alone; it is used to store and hide
arms and ammunition.
When compared to
larger arms such as AK-47s, the pistols find their way most often to dead drop
points. Pistols come in handy for the gangster network. They are used to carry
out hit jobs, and with elections coming up, gangsters would look to retrieve
the pistols from dead drop points and then use them to carry out assassinations
of police personnel and politicians during the elections. This is a modus
operandi that the ISI-backed gangster network has been planning for a long
time.
The execution of this plan is already underway.
This year, five police personnel have already been killed by gangsters backed
by the Khalistan terror groups. On October 11, Assistant Sub Inspector of
Police (ASI) Iqbal Singh was shot dead by unidentified motorcycle-borne
assailants in Tarn Taran district while he was on his way home. ASI Gurnam
Singh was shot dead in February 2026 at the Aandhiyan police post in Gurdaspur
district. Ashok Kumar, a Home Guard, was killed on the same day along with
Gurnam Singh. ASI Joga Singh was shot dead on May 24 near the Hamza village in
the Majithia district.
On September 17, ASI Harjit Singh was shot dead
near the Bhagtanwala grain market in Amritsar. An Intelligence Bureau official
said these incidents suggest that they are well-coordinated and planned
operations.
With large quantities
of arms and ammunition and narcotics hidden away at dead drop points, carrying
out such executions is easy. The shooters are informed about the dead drop
point where the arms are stored. All they need to do is pick it up just before
the hit job. This ensures that they are not roaming around with a weapon for
long and would only get access to it hours before the assassination. Further,
they are also told about the points in which the narcotics are stored, and this
is used to fund such criminal activity, the official said.