Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah attended the first National Conference of Heads of Anti-Narcotics Task Force of States and Union Territories, as the Chief Guest, in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Amit Shah also released the Annual Report (Special Edition), 2022 and Drug Free India, National Resolution Booklet of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
Shah also launched a mobile app and web portal - 'Map Drugs' which will help in identifying and destruction of illegal farming in the country.
The Union Home Minister virtually inaugurated the office complex of NCB, Indore Regional Unit.
Addressing the 1st National Conference of Heads of the Anti-Narcotics Task Force of the States and UTs today Honourable Union Minister of Home and Cooperation Amit Shah today appealed to the Narco-agencies to be ruthless with drug traffickers.
“You have to be ruthless with the drug traders and only then the battle will gain impetus. It will also prevent other people from joining the force of drug traders. The youth who are addicted to drugs are victims. But the people who trade in drugs and weaken our generations, our national security and our economy in exchange for money must be harshly dealt with,” he said.
He also said that there are two powerful legal weapons in the hands of narco-agencies in the battle against drugs. One is the NDPS Act and the other is the seizing of properties.
He also appealed to the agencies to destroy the entire network of the drug trade to win the battle against drugs.
“We have to proceed with a top to bottom and a bottom-to-top approach. If we nab a person taking drugs or we recover a pouch of drugs that cannot be counted as an achievement. We have to unearth the entire network of the trade including through which route it came. Similarly, if we seize a consignment of drugs we will have to unearth the entire pathway through which it had to reach the smallest peddler. We cannot attain success by investigating the crime alone. We can attain success by investigating the network and destroying it,” he said.
He also added that to implement the bottom-to-top and top-to-bottom approach in cases that are international and inter-state in nature assistance from the NCB, ED and NIA can also be taken.
He appealed to all the narco agencies to come together on one platform in the battle.
He said that creating cooperation, collaboration and coordination among all the narco-agencies to ensure that all of them work in the same direction with equal intensity is a must.
“This battle has to be fought with the whole of government and team India approach, rising above political ideologies,” he said.
Appealing to destroy seized drugs he said that to prevent the rotation of seized drugs through the routes of corruption they have to be destroyed after observing due formalities.
“Please make the move to destroy seized drugs public so that it creates public awareness on the issue,” he appealed.
He appealed to the states that the states need to upgrade their forensic labs to enable narco-related investigations.
“The funds that you receive for the upgradation of Forensic Labs should be used to upgrade the labs to augment narco-related facilities. If needed discuss with Chief Ministers also,” he said
He also said that to investigate the economic angles of the registered cases take the assistance of the ED so that the noose around the necks of drug cartels can be further tightened.
He said that to ensure the trafficking of drugs through sea routes the coastal states have to work in coordination with agencies and local people. Without this cooperation victory in the battle is not possible.
Appealing for a nationwide collaboration he said, “Every state should exert equal effort and meetings of the state level, district level and central level. I appeal to all the state and UT heads of the task force to decide to proceed with an integrated approach and 100% rendering of duties. No single department can wage this war and win it. There has to be a large-scale collaboration of agencies departments and governments across the nation.”
“When we are carrying out our battle against the menace of drugs we must remember that this is the year of India’s Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called upon us to set goals for India during this period which is to be achieved before 2047 when India celebrates 100 years of its independence. Making India a drug-free nation by 2047 is a goal Ministry of Home Affairs has set for itself. Because the drug is a menace that not only hollows up our generations but also threatens national security and debilitates our economy,” he also said.
He further added, “Today we are at a juncture from where we can move forward with a collective determination, with the spirit of Team India and the whole-of-government approach then we can win this battle. There are many nations in the world that have given up the battle against narcotics. But we are at such a juncture from where we can move ahead to win the battle.”
He said that the Ministry of Home Affairs has adopted a three-pronged approach to win this battle. The first step is empowering the organizational infrastructure. Under this initiative, NCORD, Narcotics Task Force has been made in the last year.
He also added that this a very daunting battle. But when fought together in the same direction goals can certainly be achieved.
“We have shown it in the last three years. From the year 2006 to 2013 only 1257 cases were registered which shot up to 354 during the period 2014 to 2022 which is an increase of 181%. Similarly, the number of arrests increased from 1363 to 5408 during this period which is almost a 300% rise and drugs seizure increased from 1.52 lakh kilograms to 3.73 lakh kilograms. There have also been qualitative improvements in seized drugs. The value of seized drugs increased from Rs.668 crore to Rs22,000 crores.”
Similarly he said that the central agencies will remain always on their toes to help the task force in investigations related to darknet and crypto-currencies. Additionally, Blockchain analysis, map intelligence and digital forensics- all these modern technologies should be used in investigations.
“If we take this approach we will find ourselves two steps ahead of drug traffickers in this battle,” he said.
