India, Dec. 31 -- LUCKNOW Heightened surveillance and sustained crackdowns by the Lucknow Police on street-level drug dealing have forced narcotics peddlers to abandon physical meetings and traditional handoffs, driving them to adopt app-based delivery services as a new, covert mode of operation, an HT investigation has found.

Ordering groceries, documents or electronics through mobile apps has become routine in urban India. The same logistics ecosystem, however, is now being exploited to move illegal drugs such as hashish and marijuana, with peddlers outsourcing last-mile delivery to unsuspecting riders working for quick-commerce and logistics platforms.

In 2024, HT had exposed multiple narcotics hot spots across Lucknow, prompting int...