CHANDIGARH: After heroin, pharmaceutical opioids are now emerging as a dangerous "second wave" in Punjab, with 8,95,508 bottles ofcodeine-based cough syrup seized last year, the highest across the country, according to the latest Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) report.
The report, released by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Friday, reads: "The ready availability of cheap, legally manufactured drugs such as Buprenorphine, Tramadol and Alprazolam through non-compliant pharmacies has made diverted pharmaceuticals an accessible substitute."
Flagging two emerging threats that require urgent attention, the report noted that India is facing mounting pressure from the changing global narcotics landscape, marked by the rise of ultra-potent synthetic opioids and record cocaine output.
"The spread of nitazenes, a class of synthetic opioids said to be 500 times more potent than heroin, and the increasing link between drug trafficking and organised violence across transit economies. Drug law enforcement agencies across the country registered an all-time high of over 1.48 lakh cases and effected seizures of more than 1,200 tonnes of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. The scale and diversity of seizures, ranging from plant-based drugs to synthetic substances, pharmaceutical diversions and precursor chemicals, underscore the evolving and complex nature of the threat," it added.
It added that Punjab accounted for 2,086 kg of heroin seizures in 2025, which was 58 per cent of the national seizure of 3,269 kg.
Of the 305 drone-related cases detected last year and 468 kg of drugs seized, a 98 per cent rise over 2024, the state accounted for 298 cases (97.7 per cent) and 461 kg of seizures, including 449.7 kg of heroin and 9 kg of methamphetamine. The remaining cases were reported from Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir.
The report indicated that the drug ban by the Taliban in 2022 led to a 93 per cent reduction in opium production in Afghanistan, but pre-existing stockpiles of 13,200 tonnes will sustain supply in 2026, as estimated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The report mentions three major points of caution for India arising from opium cultivation in Afghanistan. It added that the volume decline is a supply-side phenomenon and not a demand-side one.
Existing stockpiles have continued to sustain trafficking flows even as production has fallen; in other words, the pipeline has not yet run dry. Further, these pipelines are being used to traffic amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) in the region.
Another point is that trafficking networks have not abandoned the western corridor. Rather, they have adapted to the new situation. The India-Pakistan border, especially through Punjab, has witnessed a marked shift towards drone-based smuggling as a countermeasure against ground-level checks.
Most significantly, the collapse of the Afghan supply has not eliminated the Golden Crescent as a geopolitical risk; rather, it has redistributed it. Syndicates that historically depended on Afghan-origin heroin are now diversifying their products, and some of it is flowing eastward into India.
"Myanmar has now overtaken Afghanistan as the leading source of illicit opium, with the change driven by the after-effects of the Taliban's ban on poppy cultivation and the continued expansion of cultivation in Myanmar amid conflict and economic breakdown. The porous border between India and Myanmar and the Free Movement Regime facilitate trafficking, exacerbate local addiction, and fund insurgent groups," the report said.
It also flagged a trafficking corridor from Myanmar into the Northeast as a major security concern, warning that the drug trade in the region is linked to arms smuggling and the financing of terror groups.
It pointed out that the Golden Triangle continues to be a major source of methamphetamine entering through the northeastern states. Mizoram accounted for the seizure of 1,477 kg of ATS, or 42 per cent of the total national seizure of 3,269 kg, followed by Manipur (535 kg), Delhi (454 kg), Gujarat (308 kg) and Karnataka (164 kg).
While encrypted messaging platforms such as Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal have become channels for drug trafficking worldwide, including in India, Telegram has emerged as a key platform.
The report stated that Telegram has become a prominent drug advertising platform, with public channels offering product listings, pricing and delivery details to large subscriber bases.
"Unlike darknet markets, which require specialised access, these platforms are widely accessible via smartphones, lowering entry barriers and enabling broader reach. Enforcement on these platforms is challenging because of jurisdictional issues in securing platform cooperation, the ephemeral nature of content, including auto-deletion of messages, and the use of multiple accounts, layered communication methods, and cryptocurrency payments by vendors to maintain anonymity," it added.
Cannabis (ganja, hashish and hashish oil) topped the list of seizures at 633.59 tonnes, up from 540.8 tonnes in 2024, though it has not touched the high of 816.9 tonnes recorded in 2021.
Opiates (heroin, opium, morphine, codeine and poppy straw) accounted for 361.42 tonnes, or 29 per cent of total seizures. Pharmaceutical drugs accounted for 237.29 tonnes (19 per cent), while amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), cocaine, controlled substances and synthetic drugs accounted for 8.57 tonnes, or one per cent.
