Drug ring targeting students via internet busted in Multan

Drug trafficking network in Southern Punjab was supplying drugs to students via social media and e-commerce platforms.

The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) has dismantled a major network involved in drug trafficking in Southern Punjab, which was supplying drugs to students through social media and e-commerce platforms.

The network was operated by two brothers heavily engaged in the large-scale sale of party drugs to students, Express News reported.

The ANF team apprehended them based on intelligence reports, seizing 1,500 ecstasy pills, 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine (ice), and 2 kilograms of cannabis.

According to ANF officials, the suspects also organised drug-fuelled rave parties in various homes and hotels in Multan. They specifically targeted students residing in hostels for drug sales.

This crackdown is part of the ANF's ongoing campaign against groups involved in drug smuggling that are engaged in the illegal sale of drugs in educational institutions.Its aim is to expose students involved in drug smuggling and such organised groups to bring them to justice.

This month ANF launched a nationwide initiative targeting drug abuse in educational institutions. The chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), along with educators and students in the federal capital, also recognised the escalating issue of narcotics consumption in the country's colleges and universities.

A 2022 ANF study revealed that approximately 53 percent of students in Pakistani universities and colleges had encountered drugs, with about 27 percent admitting to having used them. HEC Chairman Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed acknowledged that drug use is increasingly becoming a widespread issue on campuses.

Earlier the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) conducted 11 operations across the country, recovering 437 kg of drugs valued at Rs 80 million and arresting nine suspects, according to an ANF Headquarters spokesman on Monday.

In Kalabat, Town Bypass, Haripur, 3.6 kg of hashish was seized from one of the apprehended individuals. The arrested suspects admitted to supplying drugs to students at the educational institutions.