Drugs worth ₹20,000 crores seized between 2014-202: Amit Shah

Mr. Shah pegged the amount of drugs seized between 2014 and 2021 at 3.3 lakh kilograms; this number was 1.52 lakh kilograms between 2006 and 2013

Home Minister Amit Shah on July 30 asserted that the BJP-led government at the Centre was effectively pursuing a decisive war against the drugs menace. Drugs worth ₹20,000 crores were seized in the country between 2014 and 2021, as against the seizure of drugs worth ₹768 crores between 2006 and 2013, he pointed out.

This difference is indicative of the fact that the government’s campaign and its path is in the right direction, he said, adding that the Government of India has a multi-pronged approach towards ‘Drug Free India’ and is progressing at a rapid pace in that direction.

“The necessity is to put a cap on a few loopholes that are left on the path, and I want to assure that we are rapidly working in that direction,” he said.

Mr. Shah pegged the amount of drugs seized between 2014 and 2021 at 3.3 lakh kilograms; this number was 1.52 lakh kilograms between 2006 and 2013. Registration of cases related to drugs has seen a 200% rise, while the percentage of arrests in drug cases has gone up to 260% during the same period, he said.

Mr. Shah was speaking at the National Conference on Drug Trafficking and National Security aimed at formulating strategies to root out drug abuse from the northern States. The Chief Ministers of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Punjab, the Administrator of Chandigarh and officers of different Drugs Enforcement Agencies participated in the first of its kind national conference.

Acknowledging that smuggling of drugs is a big challenge for national security, Mr. Shah said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is dealing with it firmly. “We are committed to freeing the young generation from the menace of drugs. To make this fight against drugs more coordinated, many new initiatives like NCORD and NIDAAN portals have been initiated,” he said.

“We have also changed our approach in the fight against drugs. If a large quantity of drugs is caught somewhere, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has made an SOP to get to the bottom to find out where it was supposed to go and from where it came inside the country. This holistic approach is proving useful in taking this fight to the endpoint. The Ministry of Home Affairs is working to curb drug smuggling under the three-pronged formula, including strengthening of the institutional structure, empowering and coordination of all narcotics agencies at the Centre and State, and awareness campaigns,” he said.