Punjabi women have the highest number of drug trafficking cases across the country
Punjabi women hold a prominent position in the country’s drug trafficking business. They represent the highest number of women arrested on charges related to drug trafficking nationwide. Over the past three years, 9,631 women have been arrested under the NDPS Act across the country, with 3,164 (32.85 per cent) of them being Punjabi.
According to data from the National Crime Records Bureau, 4,000 women were arrested under the NDPS Act in 2022 across the country, including 1,448 women in Punjab.
The second-highest number of arrests occurred in Tamil Nadu with 490, followed by Haryana with 337. In 2021, a total of 3,104 women were arrested nationwide for these charges, with 928 arrests in Punjab. Similarly, out of the 2,527 women arrested in 2020, 788 were from Punjab.