Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on Tuesday addressed the inaugural session of the second National Conference of Heads of Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) of states and Union Territories in New Delhi. On the occasion, he released the NCB Annual Report 2024 and launched the Online Drug Disposal Campaign, during which 1.37 lakh kilograms of drugs worth ₹4,800 crore were destroyed at 11 locations across the country.
Shah emphasized that the Modi government is taking a ruthless approach against both small drug dealers and large cartels, targeting the entire drug supply chain — from entry points and distribution networks to local sales. He called for scaling up action and execution, and urged ANTF chiefs to adopt technologies such as darknet analysis, cryptocurrency tracking, metadata analysis, and machine learning to dismantle cartels.
Highlighting the role of NCB, ANTF, and NCORD, he stressed that a Drug-Free India requires active participation from states, district police, education officers, religious leaders, and youth organizations. Shah also outlined the need for a robust extradition and deportation system to bring foreign drug traffickers under Indian law, coordinated with the CBI and state authorities.
The Home Minister warned of the rising threat of synthetic drugs and labs, urging states to identify and destroy them. He advocated for a scientific tradition of quarterly drug disposal in all states to prevent seized drugs from becoming a hazard.
Shah presented key statistics showing the government’s intensified efforts: from 2014 to 2025, over 1 crore kilograms of drugs worth ₹1.65 lakh crore were seized, and 71,600 crore worth of drugs destroyed, compared to 8,150 crore between 2004-2014. Arrests increased from 1.73 lakh (2004–2014) to 7.61 lakh (2014–2025). Land used for illicit drug cultivation was also destroyed on a massive scale, including over 31,761 acres in 2023 alone.
The Home Minister urged states to form special squads to track financial trails, hawala networks, crypto transactions, and cyber links, along with narcotics-focused forensic labs. He emphasized the importance of top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top approaches to dismantle networks and ensure that the fight against drugs reaches grassroots levels.