UPA’s inaction on the drug menace had eroded society’s guardrails. We have fixed it: Amit Shah

AFTER CONTAINING ISLAMIC terrorism in Jammu & Kash­mir and subduing the Maoist threat, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has now set his sights on another challenge gnawing at the country’s vitals: the drug menace. With his signature “take-no-prisoners” approach, the home minister is leading an intense fight on what he considers India’s new front.

Shah considers the revocation of Article 370 in 2019 as a landmark move that ended the decades-long cycle of terrorism in Kash­mir where separatism and violence had long hindered development. Likewise, he takes pride in significantly weakening the Maoist insurgency which once spanned vast regions of the Red Corridor but has now been reduced to just five districts of the country. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had once described Maoism as India’s single-biggest internal security threat in the 2010s. However, in recent years, on Shah’s watch, the movement has significantly weakened due to sustained security operations, development initiatives and dwindling public support.

Now, as India escalates its no-holds-barred offensive against drug traffick­ing, Shah has made it clear that the battle against narcotics will be fought with extreme resolve. A day after he vowed in Rajya Sabha on March 21 to take an aggressive stand against terrorism, Maoism, and drug smuggling, Shah sat down with Open for an interview. He asserted that he has implemented a “shoot-between-the-eyes” policy to eradicate the drug mafia, mirroring his commitment to eliminating terrorism and other national security threats. Pledging a holistic approach to eradicating all forms of terror, including Mao­ism, external incursions, and drug-related crimes, the home minister noted that he has so far chaired 31 meetings of the apex body created to combat drug trafficking. He has also participated in a hackathon enlisting the private sector, students, and defence scientists to track online transactions by drug traders and their use of technology and cryptocurrency. Shah further stated that the government is in the process of developing anti-drone systems and other indigenous technologies to monitor drug movement and map smug­gling routes. He emphasised that the government has instilled fear of the law in these wrongdoers, with Indian agencies seizing drugs worth over ₹1.5 trillion in the past decade.

Sandwiched between two of the world’s most notori­ous drug-producing regions—the Death Triangle and the Death Crescent—India has long been a key transit hub for illicit substances. However, under the Narendra Modi government’s zero-tolerance policy, law enforcement agencies have launched an unprecedented crackdown on the global drug trade, crippling major syndicates operating from Colombia to Thailand, and Afghanistan to Iran.

At the forefront of this ambitious fight, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has executed daring multi-agency raids, resulting in historic drug seizures. In a series of high-stakes operations, officials have intercepted multi-crore consign­ments, exposed sophisticated smuggling routes, and disman­tled cartel networks within and beyond India’s borders. In 2024 alone, NCB and other agencies seized over ₹25,000 crore worth of narcotics—marking a staggering 55 per cent in­crease from the previous year. From intercepting an unregis­tered vessel carrying 700kg of methamphetamine in Indian waters to busting Grade-A Co­lombian cocaine stockpiled for music festivals in Delhi, Mumbai and Goa, enforce­ment efforts have reached unprecedented levels.

With a surge in synthetic drugs and pharmaceutical substances being trafficked, the government has inten­sified efforts to uncover hidden supply chains. The Death Triangle comprises Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, while the Death Crescent includes Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. Notably, Pakistani traffickers use parts of Paki­stan bordering Afghanistan to convert Afghan opium into heroin before smuggling it into India.

As synthetic drug production surges, NCB’s meticulous top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top strategy has led to multiple high-profile arrests and the disruption of smuggling routes that had long operated with impunity. Shah elaborated: “The big­gest challenge today is synthetic drugs. The data speaks for itself—we have seized over 23,000kg of synthetic drugs worth ₹14,000 crore in the past five years. In the past four years, we have busted 41 labs manufacturing synthetic drugs, seizing 86,000kg of narcotics and arresting 136 individuals. Among these labs, 10 were in Manipur, eight in Gujarat, five in Telangana, four each in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Maharashtra, two each in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, and one each in Karnataka, West Bengal, Goa and Delhi.”

From east to west and north to south, arrests of smugglers and confiscations of illicit substances have spiked, even as syndicates explore innovative ways to evade law enforcement and exploit emerging technologies to hide their money trails.

In this exclusive interview, Amit Shah discusses India’s relentless anti-narcotics op­erations, the evolving challenges posed by the drug trade, and the government’s strategy to eradicate this scourge which fuels organ­ised crime and ensnares the country’s youth. Outlining a comprehensive plan, the home minister advocates a sympathetic approach towards first-time users while remaining unwavering in his resolve to dismantle crime syndicates. He also details federal plans and collaborations with state governments. Additionally, he commends the efforts of the Indian Navy, police forces and other agencies in tackling the drug prob­lem, specifically highlight­ing Operation Sagar Man­than, which intercepted an unregistered vessel and seized 700kg of methamphetamine in Indian waters through a joint operation by the Indian Navy, NCB and Gujarat Police.

How prepared is India to tackle the fast burgeoning drug smuggling menace which is threatening to turn into a security problem and affect national growth by trapping the youth?

The battle against narcotics is at a critical juncture in India. It is a do-or-die situation—either we beat this monster or our country will be in deep trouble.

Unfortunately, the gov­ernment that was in charge before Narendra Modi took over looked the other way when we were confronted with deadly challenges. Their cluelessness allowed the prob­lem to reach alarming levels. They also did not have the stomach or stamina to deal with the challeng­es. The fallout was grave. It led to an erosion of society’s guardrails.

But we are determined to take the bull by the horns. And we are doing it. I have told all state governments to take this very seriously and to send the message to parents and society at large that fighting the menace of drugs and narcotics is not just a fight of the government; all of us have to be gravely concerned and participate actively in battling this menace. We have serious lessons to learn from other countries where the drug abuse problem is rampant: if we don’t act on time, things will spin completely out of control and the problem will become irrevocable. For many such countries hounded by a massive drug abuse problem, tackling the drug mafia and peddlers and even small-time mules is not the solution. There has to be a holistic approach to deal with the menace.

As you said, earlier governments were not doing enough to contain the menace. What is the current outlook of your government?

When a large section of youth is especially affected by sub­stance abuse, its widespread sale by drug pushers and the drug mafia, stringent action needs to be taken to protect so­ciety at large. You are talking about a chunk of wasted youth power. This is also likely to pose huge internal security risks in various vulnerable regions of our country. We have to take a hard approach but under the legal processes of our de­mocracy. We have to instil the fear of law in these criminals.

Unfortunately, using drugs is considered ‘cool’ in a sec­tion of society, to the extent that users see those who are not users and the uninitiated as stuck in the mud and conserva­tive. Invites to events like rave parties are like a high-society calling card, promoting shallow values among the youth in particular. These attitudes foster entrenched networks that push and sell drugs even to educated, urban youth. The money made through drug sales does not just waste youth and their contribution to India’s growth, narco-money is increasingly used to fund terrorism.

To break the role of narco-money in terror activities, we have special teams in the National Investigation Agency (NIA). There is now a separate vertical in every FSL (forensic science laboratory) to ensure swift conviction. These verticals ensure that chargesheets (formal complaints) are filed on time. And we take special care to ensure that the drug addict does not turn into a drug supplier. So, we are moving ahead with this multi-dimensional approach. A soft approach and arguments for more humane ways of dealing with this situation will be of absolutely no help. Affected countries are passing stringent laws to punish peddlers, pushers and the mafia the world over because they have no other option.

How bad is India’s situation on this front today compared to other neighbours?

In India, the situation can still be repaired. But it took acknowledgement up­front that this was a growing menace, so that strategies could be firmly put in place to contain it. Since 2019, the government under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership has adopted a multi-pronged strategy. This identified three pillars: zero tolerance and a ruthless approach against drug suppliers; identifying and decimating their supply chains to choke demand pan-India noticeably; and a humane approach towards victims of drug abuse. One of the central points of our strategy is to not tar every drug user as an addict but as a victim of drug abuse who has to be rehabilitated and to place the onus firmly on the drug pushers and peddlers as the key culprits. Our system has a sympathetic approach towards the addict, and the government recognises that it is our duty to help him/her overcome the abuse problem. The person who sells drugs is no ordinary crimi­nal, however, and there is ample proof that this dirty money is being deployed in anti-state and anti-people activities like terrorism. The government has zero tolerance for narco-terrorism and no effort will be spared to end its menace.

How has the government gone about achieving its goals?

We have coined a comprehensive and holistic approach in tackling this issue: we have done away with a silo-based strategy and involved the min­istries of home, finance, education, health, pharma, social welfare, and higher education. All these ministries and departments are mov­ing hand-in-hand and in a synchronised way to contain the problem. State governments too have been replicating this model and are taking the fight against drugs right down to the village level. Before 2019, drug cases were treated like any other criminal case. That is no longer so. At least 70 per cent of cases are put through “top to bottom and bottom to top ap­proach”. Put simply, if there is a drug haul at a particular port, we monitor its supply from godowns to its movement in small pouches to various paan shops in the country. Similarly, if we confiscate a small pouch of drugs from a paan dukaan, there is a detailed investigation to identify the supply chain and ferret out its source. You will be shocked to know that the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (PITNDPS Act) was not employed before 2019 despite the narcotics act itself being very stringent. Today, we use it in a big way and have ensured that thousands of merchants of these deadly drugs are thrown behind bars without bail. You will be shocked to know that state agencies never used to confiscate the wealth of narco traders earlier. I took the initiative of personally contacting state gov­ernments and pursuing this. Now, every state government is seizing the wealth of drug suppliers. We have been successful in instilling fear of the law in the suppliers.

What has the government done on your watch to transform and reinforce the system to prevent the drug menace from spreading across India?

To buttress the other measures outlined, we have put in a comprehensive administrative architecture. We now have four NCOD mechanisms. This was established in 2019. There is an apex body comprising the home minis­ter and senior bureaucrats at the Centre. They are assisted by officials from all concerned departments. Similarly, in states there is a body comprising the chief minister, home minister, DGP and other senior officials. This mechanism is implemented from the district level downwards. In the past five years, our apex body has met 31 times. And I chaired these meetings, personally. There have been five secretary-level meetings; 191 meetings were held at the state level. A whopping 6,750 meetings were held at the district levels. That is the kind of attention this issue is getting from our government. We are not just doing meetings and confer­ences; these are powerful decision-making and implementing processes. We have strengthened the NCB cadre; 534 posts were created and 21 offices have been upgraded. To combat drug trafficking through the sea route, we now have a coordinated mechanism in place between the navy, the coast guard, NCB, customs and district police. Sixty to 70 per cent of illegal and banned drugs enter the country through the sea route. The Central agen­cies transmit messages to the ground through MAC. And prompt action is taken. But our main focus in strengthening the institutional framework is handling the problem based on detailed data analysis. We now have a SIMS (Seizure Information Management System) e-portal that can carry out trend analysis of drug trafficking. NCB is also developing a data-centric web portal and android-based mobile app with the help of the Bhaskara­charya National Institute of Space Applications and Geo-Informatics (BIS­AG-N). All these moves will help us map the main source of drugs being illegally brought into the country for selling and their primary destina­tions. The images provided by the agency have helped us destroy thousands of acres of opium cultivation.

From 2019 to 2024, very large quantities of narcotics and psychotropic substances have been seized. The policy of proac­tive interdiction of these consignments seems to have worked well. What changed in these years?

Opposition parties mock us saying that more drugs than ever are being seized in my own home state in our ten­ure. Gujarat has India’s larg­est coastline (approximately 1,600km) and this makes it a hot spot for drug trafficking. Drugs were always being smuggled into the country. But the governments earlier never used to seize these sub­stances or stringently penal­ise offenders. Look at the data. That tells you the story of our government and its handling of the issue. Under Sagar Man­than-1, we made the largest-ever seizure—3,272kg of drugs were seized in Gujarat’s Porbandar on February 28, 2024. Sagar Manthan-2 detected the Pakistani link in the 60kg methamphetamine haul seized by the agencies. Under Sagar Manthan-3, 63.5kg of heroin and 11.5kg of methamphetamine were seized.

How has persistent lawlessness in neigh­bouring Myanmar affected your priorities, especially in light of the cartels active in the Death Triangle?

India is positioned geo­graphically close to the erstwhile Golden Triangle and Golden Crescent (named based on the massive profits they generated through drug smuggling), in­volving Myanmar and Afghanistan. Among the first things we did was engage with the rest of the world and get the names changed to Death Triangle and Death Crescent. This sig­nifies our determination to approach this serious problem aggressively, which earlier govern­ments did not do. Today, there is 100 per cent checking of suspicious containers which are identified using AI, seizing massive consign­ments. We have well-trained dog squads. We now have a canine pool comprising indig­enous breeds and they are doing a wonderful job. We are also going to send them to differ­ent states. If you have seen canine squads op­erating elsewhere, they operate mainly based on their very keen sense of smell of a menu of illegal drugs and act as both primary and secondary screening and warning operatives.

You said the Modi government means business in checking and choking the massive illegal drug smuggling networks. On the ground, how has the government’s approach translated into operative terms?

Here’s how we went about changing the out­look radically and getting results. What came in the way of smooth functioning in seizing consignments and penalising criminals thus far, we realised early on, was asymmetry in the organisational structure of different agencies working on the problem. But no longer. There is now seamless coordination and synchronisation among all of these agencies and that really helps in a big way. Now there is a common SOP for all the agencies and they work under an additional DGP in the states. Today, the modus operandi in investigations is replicated without hiccups and intelligence is shared smoothly. We have also conducted detailed analyses of where the pros­ecution went wrong in key cases in ensuring that culprits are booked and punished. It has helped the agencies identify the lacunae. Now they are able to plug loopholes and clinch convictions in courts. I have personally analysed prosecution documents of government agencies. And it is gratifying to note that the courts are taking a proactive approach that matches government efforts to tackle the issue. We strengthened the institutional framework because that alone can help choke the financial backbone of the narco trade. The Cabinet approved a ₹411 crore infra­structure proposal in February 2023 to strengthen NCB and NFSU (National Forensic Sciences University). The issue is increasingly complex today since every possible channel is used by drug traffickers. The dark net and crypto­currency are all being used to aid them in shoring up their supply chains and networks and boosting profits. So we upped our game exponentially to catch them. In the past four years alone, NCB has investigated 96 such cases.

The levels of terrorist violence in J&K have gone down steadily in the past years and Maoist violence is also on the wane significantly. How important have the government’s anti-narcotics efforts been in checking extremist/terrorist violence?

I talked of narco terror. Funds flow from this trade directly to terror more than earlier because other routes of funding have been effectively choked. We have identified 11 such cases in Kashmir. The land route is through the Northeast; by drone it reaches Kashmir and Punjab from Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mon­ey was being transferred to groups in the Northeast as well. The largescale il­legal cultivation of opium within the country also contributes to the problem and there are increasing cases of fake drug manufacturers from India shipping to other countries, including online. One of these laboratories in India, which was among the 41 shuttered after thorough investigations based on shared intelligence, was making synthetic drugs for the past 16 years. We also found one case of money being transferred for Naxalite activities. Terror coddlers in the so-called civil society used to say that narco money in terror activities was an imagined issue. There is empirical evidence now. And they are under the consideration of various courts of the land. More recently, there have also been 103 cases of drugs, arms and fake currency being smuggled through drones. We have been trying to address this issue for the past three years and are now confident of finding a solution. A successful, made-in-India anti-drone system programme is underway. We have tested six such systems. DRDO and a few Indian private companies are involved in this and we are hopeful of deploy­ing the anti-drone system very soon. We will be able to begin its commercial production in the next six to eight months. We are using AI to analyse data about the source of funding for terrorism and Naxalism from narco-money and to ID those involved in these crimes. This will help us hone in on the narco trade route. The dark net is still a problem area. We are working on it. We have conducted six hackathons. I personally participated in one of them. We have got some important inputs from these hackathons. We now have a team trying to figure out the problem; some people have voluntarily joined the efforts. There is a strong hybrid team in place now.

The Northeast region, Manipur in particular, has been the hub of narcotic smuggling, plantations and illicit activities across India’s borders. What efforts are being made to check this?

Unfortunately, past regimes did not think it fit to seal the borders in the north-eastern region that are very vulnerable to illegal drug smuggling and sales. Free movement was allowed. Now we have stopped this free movement. We have 3,000km of open border in this region. Is it easy to protect these 3,000km? Narcotics affect the entry points the most. And the Northeast has been the biggest victim. If drug peddlers and their handlers try to make it a government versus local community issue, we will not give in. There have been such attempts earlier. The action will be tough and ruth­less. Forty-six routes in the Northeast have been identified after extensive interrogation of drug dealers and traders. And we have started fencing in all these 46 routes. The Army’s border unit is doing the work and the govern­ment has allocated ₹24,000 crore for this work.

The institutional framework to check the menace of narcotics, from providing seamless databases for flow of information to the creation of anti-narcotics task forces, has been strengthened. What more needs to be done?

As I said earlier, this massive battle against drug supply, sale and abuse can­not work without the proactive participation of the public or even within the government, in independent silos. Large community participation is imperative. So, apart from huge publicity campaigns, we have involved the education ministry and the social justice ministry. It is really gratifying that over three crore students have taken a pledge not to use drugs. Various government departments are also carrying out awareness programmes through marathons, rallies and social media campaigns. Interactions with these agencies have been useful as we get real-time informa­tion on trends in the narco market and infor­mation about chief players and their activities. To boot, anti-addiction campaigns have been launched in 372 most vulnerable districts. These campaigns have so far reached around five crore people. There are 347 integrated rehabilitation centres for addicts. We now have 125 addiction treatment facilities in government hospitals. We have set up a toll free helpline, 14446—in­formation provided over which is treated con­fidentially. The MANAS helpline—1933—has so far received 49,843 complaints.

The drug menace involving cartels, well-entrenched networks of suppli­ers, smugglers, peddlers and pushers is widespread worldwide. How is India coordinating with other countries?

We have signed bilateral agreements and MoUs with 46 countries on drug-related issues. Almost 90 per cent of these agree­ments were signed after 2019. We have col­laborations with the Drug Enforcement Ad­ministration (DEA) of the US, the Australian Federal Police, the National Crime Agency, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to control the global drug mafia. We share key intelligence on suppliers, routes, consign­ment movement, and so on. We have also integrated some of their vigilance and surveillance as well as interrogation methods with our training for officials. I must tell you that these agencies have also been supplying us with data on chemical drugs in circulation of late, the details on their ingredients and places where they are accessed from. (Emerging drugs, which include designer drugs and new psychoactive substances, are substances that have appeared or become more popular in the drug market in recent years. Emerging drugs have unpredictable health effects. They may be as powerful, or more powerful, than existing drugs, and may even be fatal.) We have created a separate wing of specialised chem­ists to analyse the data provided by these agencies, investing in handheld equipment at ports to identify seized substances, and so on.

How then has the government upped the game significantly on illegal drug seizures compared to earlier?

I said the Opposition often mocks us for our seizures which have grown expo­nentially since 2019. So, let’s talk about the 10 years before our government. In the 10 years under Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, India seized 25 lakh kg of drugs. Yes. And in the 10 years under Modi, the agencies have seized more than one crore kg of drugs. This is four times of the 10-year period before us. In terms of street value, the seizure of drugs under our charge accounts for a whopping ₹1.5 lakh crore. It is not that there is a sudden spurt in the drug trade. It existed even during their period. But they were in denial and refused to see the threat to the health of the people and the nation’s internal security. This is a mindset that has to be intrinsically incorporated into fighting the drug menace pan-India and we have done just that, prioritising our policing, using new technology to elevate intelligence gathering, building a sound case and clinching convictions in court. Without trumpeting our achievements, we were working on plugging the loopholes.

The drug problem is multi-level, from production and distribution to consumption. At the moment, where do we face the biggest challenge? Also, how involved is the pharma industry, once the unalloyed pride of India?

The biggest challenge before us today is synthetic drugs. The data will tell you about the seriousness of the problem—we have seized over 23,000kg of synthetic drugs worth ₹14,000 crore in the past five years. We have busted 41 labs manufacturing synthetic drugs in the past four years. This operation saw the agencies seizing 86,000kg of drugs and arresting 136 people. Among these 41 labs, 10 were in Manipur, eight in Gujarat, five in Telangana, four each in UP and Maharashtra, two each in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, and one each in Karnataka, West Bengal, Goa and Delhi. These labs were making other medicines as well. But we have sealed these factories. They have been thrown out of business. We have figured out how these labs are sourcing their raw material for synthetic drugs. We are tracking this assiduously and I am confident that we will be able to shut down this menace effectively soon. We will ensure that no raw material goes out of pharma companies for the production of drugs. We have also approached the courts to confiscate the properties of the promoters of these factories. This works out to more than ₹5,000 crore. It will send a firm signal to all those engaged in this business.

How has the government’s approach to tackling traditional drugs like opium and cannabis changed? How has it impacted results in choking this compared to earlier?

Even when synthetic drugs flood the market, traditional drug use persists.

There was no significant action against illegal cultivation of opium and cannabis before we came to power. They woke up only when some rival of a particular farmer complained about illegal cultivation. Our government is using new technology widely even in tackling this. We started a campaign against it in 2020 with the help of satellite imagery. Retired officials of ISRO were employed for the task. On the basis of images, in 2020 we were able to destroy 10,791 acres of illegal crops; 11,027 acres in 2021; 13,796 acres in 2022; and 31,786 acres in 2023. A retired official of ISRO did commendable work. He developed a model where the images of illegal cultivation are shown in a different colour. Even if there is half-an-acre of opium cultivation in a 300-acre farm, the imagery developed by this scientist helps us reach there. The same technol­ogy has also helped us seize 19,000kg of drugs worth over ₹16,000 crore from deep-sea opera­tions conducted by various agencies. What is the final outcome? If the NDPS cases in the 10 years of UPA (United Progressive Alliance) were 1.73 lakh, there has been a threefold increase in the 10 years of Modi. The number now stands at 6.5 lakh cases. This clearly shows that the entire might of the law is coming down heav­ily on the offenders. Also, most of the arrests made in the UPA period were of drug addicts. We have a humane approach and we put them in de-addiction centres and arrests are mostly of those who supply drugs.

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