Gujarat sees record-high drug hauls in 2021

This year, Gujarat not only emerged as a major route for drug peddling, but also appeared to have become a destination for its consumption. Central and state agencies seized the highest ever drug hauls, including 3,000kg heroin by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and 146kg of heroin seized by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad.
On September 13, the DRI’s seizure of two containers of semi-processed talc stones at Mundra port revealed it had Rs 21 billion heroin which had come from Kandahar in Afghanistan via the Bandar Abbas Port of Iran. The case is being probed by the National Investigation Agency. On September 18, the ATS and Coast Guard nabbed seven Iranians from a boat off the Gujarat coast. They were carrying 50kg heroin to Sri Lanka. On November 15, ATS raided a cleric’s house in Jinjuvada village of Morbi and seized 120kg heroin. Probe revealed the contraband had been bought from Pakistani drug mafia.
In August, the NCB nabbed NRI Derrick Pillay from Johannesburg in South Africa, with 4 kg of cocaine worth Rs 1 crore at the SVPI airport, the biggest seizure of cocaine in the recent past. Recently, Ahmedabad police arrested Satellite resident Vandit Patel, 27, who ran a salon in Bopal and sold drugs to people from elite class in the western part of the city.
“There’s an increasing trend where drugs, especially synthetic ones like methamphetamine and mephedrone, are meant for consumption in Gujarat and neighbouring states like Maharashtra,” said cops. Seizure of drugs from Devbhoomi-Dwarka district shows sale and consumption of drugs in rural areas, too.
HM directs deployment of container scanners
Home minister Amit Shah directed the deployment of container scanners and other related equipment for scanning incoming and outgoing containers at all ports, whether government-controlled or private. Chairing the third meeting of the apex level committee NCORD, Shah directed that illegal cultivation of drugs in the country be curbed by using drones, satellite and other technology. He said all states should form dedicated anti-narcotics task forces (ANTF) under their DGPs, which will work as state National Coordination (NCORD) secretariats, even as a Central NCORD unit is formed under Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) at the Central level.
Stating the Narendra Modi government had adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards narcotics, Shah said there was a need for better coordination between all drug law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies, not only at the national level but also between the Centre and the states.
The NCORD meeting also decided that a national narcotics control call center ‘MANAS’ to be launched and an integrated NCORD portal at the central level set up to act as an effective mechanism for information exchange between various institutions/agencies. An effective system was sought to be put in place to stop the increasing use of the darknet and cryptocurrency in the illegal drugs trade.
Shah directed that all personnel, Central police forces and state police should participate in the Modi government’s oath campaign of drug-free India and ensure that all their personnel become a part of this oath campaign This campaign should be completed by January 12, 2022, Swami Vivekananda Jayanti, which we celebrate as National Youth Day, he said.