NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha that it has been taking measures jointly with state governments to strengthen the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and other enforcement agencies to ensure effective implementation of the anti-drug law to curb trafficking of the banned substances across India’s borders with other countries.
In a reply, Minister of State (MoS) for Home Nityanand Rai listed the measures taken by the government, which included setting up of a 4-tier Narco-Coordination Centre (NCORD) mechanism for ensuring better coordination between Central and state anti-drug law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders.
“An all-in-one NCORD portal has been developed for information related to drug law — the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act — enforcement,” he said. “A dedicated Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) headed by additional director general/inspector general level police officer has been established in each state/ union territory to function as the NCORD secretariat and follow up on compliance of decisions taken in NCORD meetings at different levels,” he added.
The forces guarding borders (BSF, Assam Rifles and SSB) have been empowered under the NDPS Act to carry out search, seizure and arrest for illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs at international border, he said, adding that even the Railway Protection Force (RPF) has been empowered to check drug trafficking along railway routes.
“The Indian Coast Guard has been empowered under the NDPS Act for making interdiction of narcotic drugs in coastal and high seas,” he said.
“A task force on ‘darknet and crypto-currency’ has been set up under the Multi Agency Centre (MAC) mechanism with a focus on monitoring all platforms facilitating narco-trafficking, sharing of inputs on drug trafficking amongst agencies, interception of drug networks, continuous capturing of trends, modus operandi and nodes with regular database updates and review of related rules and laws,” the minister said.
Info-sharing
NCB takes part in real-time information sharing with drug liaison officers of countries such as the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, France and others.