In the past three years, a total of over 17 lakh kilograms of narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances have been disposed of by the Drug Law Enforcement Agencies (DLEAs) across the country, data shared by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) have revealed.
The central government has also set up a task force on Darknet and Crypto-Currency under the Multi Agency Centre (MAC) mechanism with a focus on monitoring all platforms facilitating narco-trafficking and sharing of inputs on drug trafficking amongst agencies/MAC members.
According to the NCB, last year, the DLEAs had also destroyed illegal cultivation of cannabis and opium spread in 22507 acres and 31786 acres respectively across the country. "In order to assist all DLEAs and other investigation agencies for investigation and proactive policing, the National Integrated Database on Arrested Narco-Offenders (NIDAAN) portal has been developed. It provides data of narcotics offenders involved in narcotics offences under NDPS Act. The NIDAAN portal is exclusively meant for use by DLEAs and has emerged as an effective tool for them. It has helped them in connecting dots, previous involvements, fingerprint search, working inter-linkages, busting the network, monitoring habitual offenders, financial investigation and making proposals for detention under Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (PITNDPS). It also helps in monitoring status of current cases, bail, parole, handlers, etc.," said an official.
The Government had also recently launched 1933- MANAS Helpline designed as a unified platform for citizens to report drug-related issues via multiple communications. Further, Crime & Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) is already in place which inter-links all police stations under a common application software for the purpose of investigation, data analytics, research, policy making and providing Citizen Services such as reporting & tracking of complaints, request for antecedent verifications, etc.
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The central government is also making efforts to strengthen the NCB by enhancing its presence throughout the country. "Regional offices have been increased from 03 to 07 by addition of 04 Regional offices at Amritsar, Guwahati, Chennai and Ahmedabad and Zonal offices have been increased from 13 to 30, across the Country. The sanctioned strength of NCB has also been increased to 1496 by creation of 425 new posts in different categories," the official said.
