Islamabad, June 14 (SocialNews.XYZ) The use of narcotics as a tool has become a structural component of Pakistan's sub-conventional warfare doctrine against its regional adversaries. The subcontinent will continue to face a slow-burning crisis until Pakistani deep state continues to treat narcotics revenue as a permissible substitute for the foreign assistance it no longer commands, a report has said.
"What began in the early 1980s as a marriage of convenience between the Pakistani security establishment and the Mujahideen pipeline has matured into an organised, multi-route, multi-modal enterprise that fuses heroin, methamphetamine, drone logistics, hawala finance and transnational criminal syndicates with terrorist groups operating in the region. The pattern is no longer disputed in serious policy quarters internationally. It has been documented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), corroborated in Indian agency charge sheets, and admitted, in unguarded moments, by senior Pakistani politicians themselves," a report in European Times said.
The narco network in Pakistan is majorly operated by criminal syndicates and gangsters and are backed by local security and intelligence agencies. It is a 'give-and-take' relationship, where Pakistan's security establishment use local criminal networks as a shield to traffic illegal drugs to the neighbouring nations and Europe to create instability, earn money, and create local networks in those nations, according to the report in European Times.
Pakistan has also been attempting to use the maritime route along with land and air routes for trafficking illegal drugs to other nations.
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime has documented that the crews of stateless vessels involved in drugs trafficking are mostly Pakistani, and their identification is not clear due to lack of documents.
The eastern African coast has become the primary landing zone of this maritime traffic. In the past, several Pakistani vessels were seized in the same region for carrying illegal drugs. The Sri Lankan Navy seized 605 kg of crystal meth and 579 kg of ketamine from a single vessel which had nine Pakistani crew members. UK Border Force and the National Crime Agency have reported an increase in heroin parcels and container loads coming directly from Pakistan, with consignments concealed in chilli powder packets, surgical instruments, towels, and boxing gloves.
"As a result, the strategic implication of Pakistani narco networks is regional and global. Pakistan has built a low-cost, high-deniability instrument that simultaneously funds terrorism in the region, degrades the social fabric of the Indian Ocean littoral, exports societal harm to Europe, and is now used, through choreographed seizures, as a compliance theatre for the Financial Action Task Force and the International Monetary Fund," a report in European Times said.
"So, long as the Pakistani deep state continues to treat narcotics revenue as a permissible substitute for the foreign assistance it no longer commands, the subcontinent will face a slow-burning crisis that crosses the lines between organised crime, terrorism and public health," it added.
Last year, the case of Sidrah Nosheen, the 34-year-old woman who has been sentenced to 21 years in prison in the United Kingdom for being a part of a gang that smuggled heroin from Pakistan, showcased how transboundary drug trafficking has evolved into a systemic threat, flourishing on gaps in immigration controls, allowing networks to function with a certain level of impunity, a report had detailed.
Nosheen was part of an Organised Crime Group (OCG) that smuggled heroin from Pakistan to the UK sold it around the country. She played an important part in the OCG.
"Transboundary drug trafficking has evolved into a systemic threat, thriving on gaps in enforcement and porous immigration controls, letting networks operate with a certain level of impunity. It is an international enterprise, exploiting weaknesses on both ends of the supply chain while societies bear the human and reputational cost. Pakistan finds itself repeatedly implicated, not because its citizens are inherently culpable, but because local facilitators continue to operate unchecked, allowing global networks to flourish," a report in Pakistan's daily The Express Tribune said.
The Pakistani daily added that the case of Nosheen in Bradford Crown Court lays bare the scale and sophistication of these networks.
"Her operation, involving £8.5 million worth of heroin, relied on Pakistani contacts to coordinate shipments while exploiting gaps in British oversight. Drugs were concealed in clothing, household items, and even tools, a chilling reminder that the trade adapts to ordinary life, using procedural blind spots to avoid detection. She is now sentenced to 21 years in prison. The problem is not only overseas. Pakistan's own enforcement apparatus, though active in seizures and arrests, remains reactive," it added.
Nosheen was due to stand trial at Bradford Crown Court. However, she changed her plea and admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and conspiracy to import heroin. She was sentenced in the court on December 23, 2025. In a statement, the National Crime Agency (NCA), "Heroin concealed in clothes such as leather jackets was delivered to Nosheen's home in Woodside Road at Wyke in Bradford, where she removed it and put it in one kg deal bags."
Source: IANS
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