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Business

Centre's Three-Pronged Strategy Fuels Record Drug Seizures Worth INR 22,000 Crore: Amit Shah Lauds Major Operations

The strategy includes enhancing institutional structures, improving coordination with narcotics control agencies, and implementing mass awareness campaigns. Additionally, a specialized task force has been established within the National Security Council Secretariat to monitor and analyze drug smuggling activities via maritime routes, officials said.

Centre's Three-Pronged Strategy Fuels Record Drug Seizures Worth INR 22,000 Crore: Amit Shah Lauds Major Operations
Business

A recent surge in drug and contraband seizures is attributed to the Centre's comprehensive three-pronged strategy, according to officials, following Union Home Minister Amit Shah's commendation of the Delhi Police's special cell for confiscating drugs valued at ₹13,000 crore and the Gujarat Police's recovery of cocaine worth ₹5,000 crore a day earlier.

The strategy includes enhancing institutional structures, improving coordination with narcotics control agencies, and implementing mass awareness campaigns. Additionally, a specialized task force has been established within the National Security Council Secretariat to monitor and analyze drug smuggling activities via maritime routes, officials said.

To combat drug trafficking through sea routes, the Narco Coordination Centre (NCORD) has expanded to incorporate representatives from the ports, shipping and waterways ministry, Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, coastal police, port trusts, state maritime boards, and port authorities from coastal states, officials familiar with the initiative stated.

Between 2020 and 2022, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) conducted investigations into 59 cases involving maritime drug trafficking.

Efforts to curb narcotics distribution have also included the development of an information-sharing system under the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) framework, typically used for counterterrorism purposes. This system now facilitates the exchange of data on dark net activities and cryptocurrencies related to drug trafficking, a senior official revealed.

Data from the Union Home Ministry shows a 160% increase in drug seizures and a 210% rise in cases registered by the NCB from 2014 to December 2023, compared to the period between 2006 and 2013. The total estimated value of confiscated drugs surged from ₹768 crore to ₹22,000 crore.

In 2019, the ministry bolstered the coordination mechanism between central and state drug enforcement agencies. The apex NCORD committee, led by the Union Home Secretary, oversees the framework, with executive-level committees headed by the Special Secretary of the Home Ministry, state-level committees led by state Chief Secretaries, and district-level committees chaired by District Magistrates.

The Cabinet Committee on Security last year approved a revised budget of ₹411.59 crore to enhance NCB's infrastructure, followed by the Home Ministry's administrative approval and allocation of ₹65.60 crore for specific projects.