Drugs and bullets: on narcotrafficking and targeted killings in Punjab

A chemist has been charged with killing anti-drug-trafficking activist Parvinder Singh Jhota after his allegedly illegal drug business came under threat. Separately, social media influencer Mad Sandhu was allegedly the victim of a premeditated, transnational syndicate hit that used inter-State escape routes. Both events in Punjab involved digital platforms and both events expose a dire gap in public safety. While Mr. Jhota’s alleged murderer was a local chemist, the macro-level drug trade in Punjab is intertwined with gangster networks , with the cross-border drug smuggling known to be a key source of illicit funds. Together with a string of targeted killings of police personnel and local politicians, the incidents depict a Punjab caught between local drug trafficking and citizens resorting to vigilantism and crime syndicates carrying out assassinations with disquieting ease. Some events have also raised suspicions of cross-border support and a demand to involve enforcement agencies.