JAIPUR: Smuggling of drugs and weapons from Pakistan into Rajasthan’s border districts is emerging as a major challenge for security agencies. In recent months, several incidents involving the delivery of narcotics and weapons through Pakistani drones across the international border have come to light, particularly in Sri Ganganagar and Hanumangarh districts.
Police in Hanumangarh district have arrested a man and seized 1.546 kg of heroin, a pistol, three live cartridges and Rs 80,000 in cash from his car during patrolling on Saturday. The Police estimates the heroin’s value at around Rs 3 crore in the international market.
The accused was identified as Ranjhu Khan, alias Ranjha, a 30-year old resident of Udaipur Godaran in Sri Ganganagar district. According to superintendent of police B. Aditya preliminary inquiries suggest the heroin was brought into Punjab from Pakistan by drone and was intended for distribution in parts of Rajasthan. Police is examining Khan’s alleged links to a drug trafficking network and trying to identify others involved in the supply chain.
Police said the seizure was made by a team led by a sub-inspector as part of Operation Chakravyuh, the district’s drive against drug trafficking. The suspected route has yet to be established through the investigation.
“Khan had previously been booked in seven cases at police stations in Sri Ganganagar district, including two under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. A case has been registered at Hanumangarh Junction police station under the NDPS Act,” SP Aditya asserted.
The arrest follows another seizure in neighbouring Sri Ganganagar district on Friday, when police found two abandoned packets containing 1.6 kg of heroin in a field near Sujawalpur, close to the India-Pakistan border. Police valued that consignment at around Rs 8 crores and suspect that it may have been dropped by a drone, though they said an investigation was needed to establish its origin.
Four days earlier, police recovered 206 grams of methamphetamine, also known as ice, along with equipment from a polythene bag in the Rohi 8C Badi Hindumalkot area. Sri Ganganagar superintendent of police Harishchandra said the police is trying to identify the source and intended recipients of the consignments in both cases.
Much of western Rajasthan lies in the Thar Desert, where the terrain makes border surveillance really difficult.Drone deliveries of drugs and weapons have posed a continuing challenge for agencies guarding Rajasthan’s border with Pakistan. Sri Ganganagar, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Barmer share the state’s approximately 1,070-km international border.
According to the local police, in the last few years alone, drugs worth about ₹500 crore and a large quantity of weapons have been seized in Sri Ganganagar district. Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed security along the India-Pakistan border in Bikaner in May 2026. Security has since been stepped up but police say smugglers continue to use drones to drop drugs and weapons across the border.
Police suspect that Pakistani smugglers drop the drugs through drones. Police have registered several cases against unknown smugglers under the NDPS Act and are investigating. But given the growing frequency of such cases, border areas in Rajasthan are now clearly becoming a major hub of drug and weapons smuggling and are now a massive concern for security agencies.