A race in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The Pakleds are a rather intellectually challenged race of beings, appearing at first to be naive and helpless, with a sort of vapid friendly air to them. This, however, is a ruse. In reality, the Pakleds use this deception to steal equipment, or hold crewmembers hostage for ransom; this is how they have obtained the technology necessary to travel through space. Data notes that the Pakleds appear to lack the evolutionary development of intellect to use the technology that they have acquired; the Pakleds are impatient, unwilling to wait to mature as a species; in this way they are very much like giant toddlers with dangerous toys.
In the episode "Samaritan Snare", a Pakled ship sabotages its warp drive in order to obtain the Enterprise's assistance. When Geordi LaForge beams over to help, he is held hostage by the Pakleds, who demand that the Enterprise crew turn over all computer data from their ship. To regain Geordi, the Enterprise crew construct an elaborate ruse involving the ship's Bussard collectors.
Memorable lines uttered by Pakleds during that episode include "We look for things... things that make us go," "We need their computer things!" and "We want to be 'nothing if not persistent'" (parroting a remark by Geordi). All of these demonstrate their deficiency in areas of intelligence.
althorrat says: The Pakleds were also mentioned in "Reunification" as owning the planet that the Duras sisters were illegally mining, but Quark says, "Those fools don't even know it's (the mine) there."
On DS9, you will occasionally see a Pakled or two lounging around in the background at Quark's bar. Perhaps they are looking for things that make them wasted.