PALAKKAD: The government will establish a state narcotics bureau under the excise department to strengthen enforcement against drug trafficking, Excise Minister M B Rajesh said as he inaugurated the department’s state-level development seminar on ‘Vision 2031’ in Palakkad on Thursday .
Presenting the draft policy document at Cosmopolitan Club, the venue, he said the department’s revenue collection and enforcement activities will be separated to make enforcement more effective. “The reform will enable the department to focus more strongly on combating the growing menace of narcotics,” he said.
Appointment of more personnel and introduction of modern technological facilities in the department were among the other announcements he made. Over the past five years, 1,249 new appointments were made in the department, and 102 new posts created – 96 of them for women civil excise officers, he said.
He said the department was undergoing modernisation to meet new challenges, using technology such as AI, digital intelligence and drone surveillance,” he said. “Officers will receive continuous training and advanced measures will be introduced to curb online and dark web-based synthetic drug trading,” he said.
Kerala recorded the most drug seizures in the country, which reflected the efficiency of its enforcement system, Rajesh said. “Even small cases are detected in Kerala,” he said, adding that in the past decade, drugs worth Rs 500 crore were seized in Kerala. The national total for last year alone stood at Rs 25,000 crore, though.