In a rare confession, a key aide of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has admitted to the use of drones to increase the supply of drugs across the border to India. The remarks were made by special assistant on Defence to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz SharifMalik, Mohd Ahmad Khan in an interview to senior Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir in Kasur city, which borders the Indian Punjab.
“Big disclosure by PM’s advisor Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan. Smugglers using drones in the flood affected areas of Kasur near the Pakistan-India border to transport heroin. He demanded a special package for the rehabilitation of the flood victims, otherwise victims will join smugglers,” Hamid Mir said in a tweet on July 17.
Speaking to The Indian Express on phone from Pakistan, Mir said, “Malik Mohammad Ahmad Khan is an MPA from Kasur and he is very close to the political and military establishment in Pakistan. He was very close to the previous Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and also to the present military hierarchy.”
“These villagers (in Kasur) say they get no mobile signals. They spoke about movement of drones and smuggling of drugs from Pakistan into India and liquor from India into Pakistan. Khan told me that mobile signals here are jammed by security agencies due to cross-border drone movements,” said Mir.
Kasur is situated just across Punjab’s Khemkaran and Ferozepur. According to Punjab Police’s data earlier this month, 795 FIRs were registered under the NDPS Act from July 2022-2023 in Ferozepur district alone. Most of the drugs were seized from those districts of Punjab that border Pakistan, the data showed, reported The Indian Express.