Dead drops emerge as security blind spot, aid targeted killings and drug trade

Punjab Police and central agencies are increasingly concerned about dead drops used by smugglers to hide narcotics, pistols and ammunition. Officials warn these concealed supplies could finance criminal activities and facilitate targeted killings of police personnel and politicians, particularly during elections

New Delhi: 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.

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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.