Pakistan’s ISI Allegedly Deploys Drug Addicts as Couriers to Indian Jails
Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is reportedly employing a new tactic to infiltrate India by using individuals under the influence of drugs or posing as mentally unstable to deliver messages to terrorists imprisoned in the country. Since July, over ten Pakistani nationals have been apprehended entering India from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, with many detained in prisons across Jammu, Punjab, and Rajasthan.
Security agencies suspect these individuals are couriers tasked with relaying critical communications to incarcerated terrorists. Interrogations reveal that they have been trained to resist questioning, displaying evasive behavior that suggests a larger agenda orchestrated by their handlers.
The ISI’s strategy reportedly includes deploying women and minors as couriers. In July, a minor from Pakistan’s Attock was intercepted in Punjab; during searches, authorities found a damp paper with illegible Arabic writing.
This infiltration method is linked to drug smuggling operations. In Rajasthan’s Bijnour village, a Pakistani national feigning mental disturbance confessed under intense questioning that he was hired by Pakistani drug lords to facilitate narcotics trafficking into India and gather information on Border Security Force (BSF) deployments.
Officials note that the use of mobile phones and the internet leaves electronic footprints that could expose plans of state and non-state actors across the border. Consequently, the ISI has adopted this new modus operandi to avoid detection.
This development highlights the evolving tactics of the ISI in its efforts to destabilize India, necessitating heightened vigilance and adaptive countermeasures from Indian security agencies.
