New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in his role as the overseer, witnessed the disposal of a massive quantity of drugs across multiple regions in India conducted by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). The narcotics weighed a staggering 1,44,000 kilograms and held an estimated value of Rs 2,381 crore. This operation adds to the already impressive tally of drugs eradicated over the past year, reaching approximately 10 lakh kilograms with a combined worth of Rs 12,000 crore.
The destruction of these substances occurred during the Drugs Trafficking and National Security regional conference held in Delhi, where anti-narcotics task forces (ANTFs) from various states collaborated in unison. While physically present at the event, the Home Minister virtually observed the disposal proceedings in the national capital.
The NCB units contributed significantly to this effort, with the Hyderabad unit alone seizing 6,590 kilograms of drugs, the Indore unit seizing 822 kilograms, and the Jammu unit seizing 356 kilograms. Furthermore, various law enforcement agencies, from states worked together to eliminate quantities of drugs. This included confiscating 103,884 kilograms in Madhya Pradesh, 1,486 kilograms in Assam 229 kilograms in Chandigarh 25 kilograms in Goa, 4,277 kilograms in Gujarat, 2,458 kilograms in Haryana 4,069 kilograms in Jammu and Kashmir 159 kilograms in Maharashtra 1,803 kilograms in Tripura and 4,049 kilograms, in Uttar Pradesh.
A significant portion of the seized narcotics originated from Madhya Pradesh, as reported by PTI. From June 1, 2022, to July 15, 2023, the regional units of the NCB, along with the state anti-narcotics task forces, collectively eradicated approximately 8,76,554 kilograms of seized drugs valued at around Rs 9,580 crore, exceeding the initial target by more than 11 times.
Previous reports from May 2022 revealed that Indian intelligence agencies had seized over 3,800 kilograms of heroin, amounting to Rs 26,000 crore, since April 2021. The Narcotics Control Bureau’s report published in April 2022 highlighted a significant increase in heroin seizures, rising from 3,231 kilograms in 2019 to 3,838 kilograms in 2020. The report also emphasized that the drug seizures, including heroin, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic were the highest recorded since 2016.