New Delhi:, Sept 16 :
Stating that fight against drug cartel in India should be the topmost priority of the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) as well as the state law enforcing agencies, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday emphasised on a three-way approach to deal with drug cartels by stopping their entry into India, obstructing their reach to the districts and seizure from local shops.
“We should constantly fight against drug menace. It’s the responsibility of ANTF and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to launch a 360 degree fight against drug cartels where other stakeholders from states should also join,” said Shah while inaugurating the 2nd National Conference of Heads of Anti-Narcotics Task Force of States and Union Territories (UTs) in New Delhi.
He said that in the last six to seven years, campaigns were launched against drugs along with data compilation and information sharing. “Now it’s time for
Fight against Drug
action and execution with a changing scale and level,” said Shah. Shah reiterated that a three-tier strategy should be adopted for a united fight against drugs, including ruthless action against drug cartels and a humanitarian approach to deal with the victims.
“Our fight against drugs will be successful, when not only NCB and Government of India but all the departments, states and their ANTFs walk in the same direction,” he said. The ANTF heads of 36 states and Union Territories apart from stakeholders from other departments have been attending the two-day conference, which serves as a strategic platform to reinforce Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to a drug-free India and to formulate a roadmap to achieve this goal. The theme of the conference is “United Resolve, Shared Responsibility”.
The conference focuses on a comprehensive review and analysis of the collective efforts made by all concerned stakeholders in combating drug menace in the country and deliberate on the future roadmap.
The conference has been divided into seven technical sessions including drug free India by 2047- Criticality of ANTF and NCORD, dismantling network linkages & cartels, demand reduction initiatives – an integrated approach for drug free Bharat by 2047, deportation & extradition of fugitives & deportation of narcotic offenders, financial investigation & PITNDPS, improving effectiveness in investigation and trials and precursors, synthetic drugs & clan labs.
Highlighting that ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat’ mission should be organised in all the districts across the country, Shah said, “At present ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat’ mission is underway in 370 districts, where 10 crore people are connected. But this is not enough. The programme should run in all the districts.” Shah said that religious leaders and youth organisations from all the districts should participate in India’s fight against drug menace.
Union Home Minister said that ANTF should work in tandem with the CBI so that the absconder involved in the drug business should be extradited from abroad. “People in jails are also engaged in the drug business. We need to put an end to this trend,” he said adding, synthetic drug manufacturing laboratories of different states should be identified and destroyed.
Law-enforcing agencies in India have destroyed drugs worth Rs 71,600 crore in the last 10 years. Disclosing this on Tuesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that the value of drugs actually destroyed between 2004 and 2014 was Rs 8,150 crore, while during 2014 to 2025, it rose to Rs 71,600 crore. Shah said that between 2004 and 2014, drugs worth Rs 3.63 lakh crore were disposed of, whereas between 2014 and 2025, drugs worth Rs 35.21 lakh crore were disposed of. Shah was addressing the inaugural session of the second national conference of the Heads of Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) of states and Union Territories in New Delhi. He further stated that in 2020, 10,700 acres of land used for drug cultivation were destroyed; in 2021, 11,000 acres; in 2022, 13,000 acres; and in 2023, 31,761 acres. “Similarly, the destruction of land used for cannabis cultivation increased from 21,000 acres to 34,000 acres. During 2004 to 2014, 1.73 lakh people were arrested, while between 2014 and 2025, 7.61 lakh people were arrested,” Shah said.
The Home Minister said that from 2004 to 2013, the quantity of drugs seized was 2.6 million kilograms, valued at Rs 40,000 crore. “From 2014 to 2025, this increased to 1 crore kilograms, valued at Rs 1.65 lakh crore. When coordinated efforts are made, success follows. We must accelerate our initiatives with a strategic approach; only then can we move much closer to realizing the vision of a drug-free India,” said Shah while addressing the gathering attended by central and state law-enforcing agencies.
Stating that a common structure and operational uniformity are very important to fight drug cartels, Shah said, “Only through the exchange of best practices and their open acceptance can state-specific Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) be developed that suit local conditions — with the national SOP forming part of those.”
He warned that without putting such a mechanism in place, we will fall far behind in this fight.
“At least in every major narcotics case, we should try to use the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) to identify the entire network; this will not only strengthen our case but also enable us to successfully dismantle the whole network,” Shah said.
The Home Minister said the Modi government is leaving no stone unturned in assisting the states in the fight against drugs. He urged all ANTF chiefs to prepare an anti-narcotics action checklist that includes details on how the investigation was conducted and what efforts the district police made to identify the case.
Shah added that reviewing this checklist every three months will ensure that the fight reaches down to the grassroots.
Shah informed that approximately 1,37,917 kilograms of drugs worth about Rs 4,800 crore were destroyed at 11 locations across the country today.
He advocated for establishing a scientific tradition of destroying seized drugs every three months in every state, as drugs in police custody pose a danger.
“Both a top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top approach are essential to address the drug problem. The goal is not to create statistics but to build an India where such statistics are unnecessary. This is only possible by adopting a top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top approach,” said Shah.
