Pakistan’s Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) has carried out a series of major operations across the country, seizing more than 2,296 kilograms of narcotics and arresting five suspects, according to official statements. The most significant recovery came from a private housing society in Mardan, where a large stockpile of drugs smuggled from Afghanistan was uncovered.
ANF spokespersons confirmed that 426 kilograms of narcotics were recovered from multiple locations inside the Mardan housing society. Investigators believe the drugs were brought from Afghanistan with the help of local facilitators and routed through Tirah and Bara in smaller consignments before being stored in Mardan. According to the Drug Trafficking Organisation’s assessment, the local operatives had turned the well-known residential society into a drug dumping site, waiting for the right time to distribute the narcotics nationwide through an organised inter-provincial network.
The spokesperson added that the broader crackdown also covered educational institutions and urban centres across the country. In ten separate operations, ANF teams arrested five individuals and seized narcotics valued at more than Rs 208.2 million. Recoveries included 500 grams of hashish near Diamer Colony on Jutial Road in Gilgit, 70 grams from a motorcyclist near Kak Pul in Islamabad, and 60 grams from another motorcyclist near a university on GT Road, Gujrat. The arrested suspects reportedly confessed to selling drugs to students.
Significant recoveries were also made from courier offices. In Rawalpindi, 52 grams of hashish were found in a parcel arriving from the United States, and another 22 grams were recovered from a Thailand-origin parcel. In Karachi’s Korangi area, ANF seized 21 grams from a parcel destined for the United Kingdom.
Additional seizures included 33.6 kilograms of hashish from a vehicle near the Gujrat Toll Plaza, and a major haul near Pump Bazaar in District Gwadar, where ANF recovered 71 kilograms of crystal meth (ice), 13 kilograms of heroin, and 10 kilograms of hashish hidden inside a plastic tank. In Sarnaan, Pishin, authorities intercepted 2,160 kilograms of hashish, while another 8 kilograms were seized from Nagore Sharif in District Gwadar.
All cases have been registered under the Control of Narcotics Substances Act, 1997, and investigations are ongoing. Officials say the operations reflect ANF’s intensified nationwide efforts to dismantle trafficking networks, curb smuggling routes from Afghanistan and restrict drug circulation in educational institutions.
