HQ Team
July 18, 2023: India has destroyed 140,000 kilograms of narcotics worth 23 billion rupees — a record for the highest quantity of drugs crushed in a single day, according to the home minister.
The Narcotics Control Bureau and the Anti-Narcotics Task Force participated in the operation, Amit Shah said on July 17, when the crackdown happened, according to a government statement.
“In a country like India, drug trafficking and their usage not only ruins the future generations, but also affects national security,” he told delegates during a drug trafficking conference in the capital New Delhi.
The Ministry of Home Affairs is continuously running a campaign against drugs through the meetings of regional conferences and these meetings are being held to review them and make timely changes in our policies based on the feedback, he said.
‘Create awareness’
“It is not just a fight to crack down on drugs or achieve complete victory, but the biggest victory in this fight is to create awareness,” Mr Shah said.
More than 10 lakh kilograms of narcotics worth more than 120 billion rupees have been decimated during the last year.
A total of 1,250 cases was registered between 2006 and 2013, while 3,700 cases have been registered in the nine years from 2014 to 2023 — an increase of 200 %.
About 1,360 arrests were made during the earlier period, which has now gone up to 5,650 — an increase of 300%, Mr Shah said.
Campaign success
The quantity of drugs seized was earlier 152,000 kilograms, which has now increased by 160% to 394,000 kilograms.
He said that drugs worth 59 billion rupees were destroyed between 2006 and 2013, while drugs worth 181 billion rupees have been seized and destroyed between 2014 and 2023. “This shows the success of our campaign.”
“Until we conduct financial investigations of drug traffickers and break their interest chain, our campaign will not be successful.
“Our approach should be such that those who consume drugs should be considered victims, while those who engage in the trade should be marked as culprits.”
India established a Narco Coordination Centre in 2019. It also has created a Seizure Information Management System e-portal.
A unified database called National Integrated Database on arrested narco offenders and another database for fingerprints known as the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System, is also in place.
To provide training India has set up a National Narcotics K9 Pool.
The minister called for the establishment of specialized courts to deal with the drug problem “and conduct their prosecution” in a fast-track mode.
