Amit Shah asks agencies, states to locate, bring back fugitive narco traffickers
Home minister Amit Shah has also asked the police chiefs of states and union territories to make the action against drug traffickers their prime agenda for the next three years to achieve a drug-free India
New Delhi: Union home minister Amit Shah has asked the central agencies and states’ police departments to identify, locate and bring back the fugitive narco-traffickers sitting abroad while focusing on action against big drug cartels, people familiar with the development said on Sunday.
The home minister has also asked the police chiefs of states and union territories to make the action against drug traffickers their “prime agenda for the next three years” to achieve a drug-free India.
He was speaking at the two-day National Security Strategies Conference (NSS) of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) in Delhi, which concluded on Saturday evening and was attended by over 800 police and intelligence officers from across the country.
In a statement issued late on Saturday night, the ministry of home affairs said - “While appreciating the achievements in the left wing extremism (affected areas), north east and Jammu and Kashmir, Amit Shah has asked the DGPs (director generals of police) to adopt a similar approach for effective implementation of the three new criminal laws and tackling the challenge of narcotics. He advocated the need for a top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top approach in initiating action against big drug cartels, besides focusing on extradition of narco-offenders”.
“DGPs were directed to make it the prime agenda of the police for the next three years in the path towards ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat’ (drug-free India),” the statement said.
An officer familiar with the discussion during the conference said, “A list of narco traffickers who are currently located abroad, who either work individually, with international cartels or with terrorist groups. is being prepared. They will be located and assistance of international agencies like Interpol would be taken to get them arrested and extradited or deported to India”.
In May this year, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) brought Navin Chichkar, the alleged kingpin of a drug trafficking syndicate, from Malaysia. Chichkar allegedly ran a cocaine smuggling network in India, while running his operations from Malaysia. The agency, earlier this month, also busted a transnational drug trafficking syndicate that operated in foreign countries including the US and Australia and arrested eight individuals.
Officials said the drug smuggling and its use in India is a major cause of concern.
“NCB regularly is holding talks with Myanmar and Afghanistan, which are major sources of smuggling, Iran, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and other countries to discuss the narcotics smuggling networks and related issues like maritime trafficking,” said the second officer.
He added that the Maritime Security Group in the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), formed in November 2022 after a 3,000 kg heroin drug bust at Mundra port, is also regularly monitoring and analysing the trafficking routes and trends.
According to the government data, 89,913 cases under narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances (NDPS) Act were registered in 2024, in which 1,16,98 individuals were arrested and 13.30 lakh kgs of drugs (all kinds) were recovered.
The home minister, during his address on Saturday, also lauded the Border Security Force (BSF) and the armed forces for Operation Sindoor.
Pointing out that the police station is the focal point of intelligence collection, he called upon the police leadership to evolve a credible platform for sharing real-time information up to the police station level.
Emphasising the primary duty of the police to protect the life, property and dignity of citizens, the home minister directed each state police force and central agency to strive towards excellence, and nurture a spirit of healthy competition to address the internal security challenges.
