In the past year, 660 foreign nationals were arrested across India on charges of drug peddling, with Nepalese (203), Nigerians (106) and Myanmarese (25) topping the list, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has said in its annual report.
Data provided by the NCB shows that they have also arrested 18 Bangladesh nationals, 14 from Ivory Coast, 13 from Ghana, and 10 from Iceland.
The data further shows that from 163 cases of drones reported in the last year in Punjab, they recovered 187.149 kg heroin, 5.39 kg methamphetamine and 4.22 kg opium from different sectors. “In Rajasthan, 15 cases of drones were reported and 39.155 kg heroin was recovered, while in Jammu and Kashmir one case of drone was reported and 0.344 kg heroin was recovered,” the data shows.
“India faces a growing challenge in combating narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances trafficking due to its geographic location between the Death Crescent (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran) and the Death Triangle (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos) – two major global drug-producing regions,” Director General (NCB) Anurag Garg said in the annual report.
“While the states of Punjab, Rajasthan, and Jammu & Kashmir are vulnerable to heroin smuggling from Pakistan, the north-eastern states – Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh – are affected by proximity to Myanmar. Coastal routes – Mumbai, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu – are now increasingly being exploited for the smuggling of synthetic drugs and precursors,” Garg said.
Addressing the second national conference of heads of Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) of states and Union territories, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said the time has come to bring those who run drug trade in India by sitting abroad within the ambit of law, stressing that the Narendra Modi government is determined to wipe out all kinds of narcotics from the nation.
Shah said that the battle is no longer just about catching small-scale drug peddlers but about targeting three types of cartels: those operating at entry points, those distributing from entry points to states, and those selling narcotics in smaller areas within states.
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“Now, every state has to develop a high-level strategy targeting all three types of cartels, involving state and district police. There is a need to adopt technologies such as darknet analysis, cryptocurrency tracking, communication pattern analysis, logistics, financial flow analysis, metadata analysis, and machine learning models to curb these cartels,” he said.
The two-day conference, organised by the NCB, began here on Tuesday.
Highlighting the importance of deporting and extraditing fugitives, Shah said the time has come to bring those people within the ambit of the law who sit abroad and run the drug trade in the country.
“The CBI has done very good work on this. I appeal to all heads of the ANTF that with the help of the CBI, they should make the arrangement for the extradition of fugitives here. This will not only help in breaking the narcotics gangs but also terrorism gangs too. Action is also being taken against those involved in the retail trade of drugs,” he added.
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According to Shah, in some parts of the world, people have seen the link between a nation’s development and the challenge of drug abuse. “Unfortunately, two of the regions from where drugs are supplied globally are very close to us. So this is the time that we fight against it strongly,” he added.
