What happened
Balochistan Police said on Sunday 8 February 2026 that they had registered 352 cases and arrested 1,698 suspects during special operations against criminal elements, drug dealers, wanted fugitives and people involved in serious crimes across the province.
According to the Associated Press of Pakistan, citing a police spokesperson, the operations were carried out on the instructions of Inspector General of Police Balochistan Muhammad Tahir Khan and targeted drug peddling, vehicle theft, mobile phone snatching, banditry and other offences. The force said it recovered six stolen vehicles, 67 motorcycles, 24 mobile phones, 35 tolas of gold, millions of rupees, 135 pistols, 19 revolvers, 20 Kalashnikovs, 1,329 rounds, 114 magazines and thousands of litres of petrol and diesel, and rescued six hostages.
The police said they registered 148 cases and arrested 147 suspects in one part of the campaign, and opened 204 cases against drug peddlers in which 213 suspects were detained. Seized narcotics listed in the statement included 2,799.75 kilograms of hashish, 2,442.536 kilograms of “ice shisha”, 1,687.061 kilograms of opium, 573 bottles of alcohol, 129 beers, 84 grams of heroin and 10 kilograms of cannabis.
The statement added that the operations covered seven police ranges, including Quetta. Besides those arrested on specific charges, the police listed 155 declared suspects, 342 absconding suspects and 841 people detained for various offences.
Why it matters
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province by area and has long combined militant violence with organised crime and smuggling. A force that is frequently in the news for security operations against armed groups presented the sweeps as a broad, province-wide policing effort against ordinary criminal activity as well as wanted suspects.
The scale of the reported haul — hundreds of firearms, tonnes of narcotics and the recovery of abducted people — indicates the authorities are treating drug trafficking and kidnapping as priorities alongside counter-militancy work in the province.
What is still uncertain
The figures come from a single police statement and have not been independently verified. It is not clear how many of the 1,698 detainees will be formally charged, or whether the operations produced any prosecutions. Some totals in the police summary overlap — for example, weapons appear in more than one part of the account — so the headline count should be read as the police’s own tally.
Sources & reporting notes
This article is a synthesis of published reporting, not eyewitness coverage. Sources were reviewed on 8 February 2026.
- Associated Press of Pakistan — "Balochistan Police arrest 1,698 suspects in province-wide operations"8 February 2026 · Police statement reporting 352 cases and 1,698 arrests, the seized vehicles, weapons and narcotics, and the recovery of six hostages.
