NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday stressed on the government’s zero tolerance policy towards drugs trafficking, and said profits from the narcotics trade were being used to finance terrorism.
“The presence of this dirty money also gradually hollows our economy,” Shah said in the Lok Sabha. “Drug menace is a serious problem which is destroying generations. Profits from the drug business are utilised for terrorism,” he said.
Referring to the seizure of drugs at Gujarat’s Mundra port, the home minister said drugs are seized at ports due to our surveillance systems. “Just because a state has great recoveries, it doesn’t mean that drug abuse is rampant there,” he said, adding that the states that don’t help central agencies are helping drug traffickers.
“The NIA has been empowered by Parliament to carry out investigations along with NCB into drug trafficking. Drugs are coming from Gulf countries, and arrests have been made of people involved in it. Raids were also conducted in 12 states in connection with the issue,” Shah said.
While the home minister was speaking about the drugs issue, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi mentioned the Pegasus spyware scam, which rocked Parliament in 2021, leading to a sharp exchange between the two leaders.
Gogoi inquired about the surveillance mechanism put in place on land and sea borders, and international airports to check the entry of contraband into the country. He also accused the government of using Pegasus spyware to snoop on journalists and politicians.
“How are you using intelligence and surveillance? You snoop on us, tap our phones with Pegasus,” Gogoi said. “Through Pegasus, how many drug mafia have you caught,” he asked. Taking exception to Gogoi’s charges, Shah said the Congress MP was making baseless politically-motivated allegations, and demanded proof for his allegations.
“He has made some serious allegations that his phone was tapped through Pegasus. Give proof, you cannot just say such things. Give House the proof. This House is for serious discussion, not for baseless politically-motivated allegations,” Shah said. In July last year, a global media consortium made the disclosure that thousands of prominent personalities from India and elsewhere were potentially targeted by Pegasus, owned by Israeli’sNSO Group.