Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said the value of the recent drug seizure off the Kerala coast was more than the cumulative value of narcotics seized during the ten-year rule of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre before the BJP came to power in 2014. In a jibe at the Congress, he said the lapses in coastal security had led to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
Mr. Shah made these comments while laying the foundation stone for the permanent campus of the National Academy of Coastal Policing at Okha (NACP) in Devbhumi Dwarka district of Gujarat.
“The Indian Navy and Coast Guard seized drugs worth ₹12,000 crore off the Kerala coast recently. This is more than what was seized in an entire year in the past. During ten years of UPA, narcotics worth Rs 680 crore were seized. And we have seized drugs worth ₹12,000 crore in one instance. It proves that the security scenario has improved,” the Home Minister said.
Nearly 2,500 kg of methamphetamine worth around ₹12,000 crore was seized from a vessel in Indian waters along the Kerala coast in a joint operation by the Navy and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) recently.
“Security experts have admitted that India’s security has strengthened and citizens living inside the country and near the border feel safer after Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014,” said Mr. Shah.
He said Mr. Modi first strengthened Gujarat’s security as its Chief Minister (before 2014) and now he was trying to secure the country with the cooperation of different State governments.
Referring to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, when Pakistan-based attackers entered the city through the sea route, Mr. Shah said lapses in coastal security led to the tragedy. The Congress-led UPA had been in power when ten terrorists attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008.
“This country paid a huge price for the lapses in our coastal security. No patriotic citizen can forget that tragedy when 166 innocent citizens lost their lives due to the lapses in our security set-up. Our country faced humiliation in the world due to the Mumbai terror attack,” said Mr. Shah.
Under the Modi government, a holistic policy on coastal security is now being followed, Mr. Shah said.
“Earlier, there was no specialised training for jawans of the Border Security Force, Coast Guard and the Coastal Police of different States and Union Territories. But, after the Mumbai terror attack, it was felt that there should be a uniformity in the response of our forces guarding our coastline. For that, they must get training in a well-planned manner,” the Home Minister said.
He told the audience that Mr. Modi gave clearance to start NACP at Okha to fulfil this purpose in 2018.
“PM Modi has created a ‘Sudarshan Chakra’ or security ring for India and has left no stone unturned to fortify the border security,” he said.
NACP, the country’s first national academy to train police forces in effectively safeguarding the shoreline, started functioning in 2018 from the campus of the Gujarat Fisheries Research Centre. It was set up to provide intensive and high-level training to marine police of nine coastal States, five Union Territories as well as the Central Police Forces, said a press release.
