The cases registered across the country and arrests made under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act increased by over 100% from 2018 to 2022, according to the Central government.
This year, till June, the enforcement agencies had registered 36,378 cases under the Act and arrested 45,204 accused persons.
In a written response to a query from Rajya Sabha Member Sushil Kumar Modi, Minister of State In the Ministry Of Home Affairs Nityanand Rai on Wednesday said cases registered under the NDPS Act went up from 49,450 in 2018 to over 1 lakh in 2022 and arrests from 60,156 in 2018 to about 1.26 lakh in 2022.
The drugs disposed of by all the law enforcement agencies also spiked up to 7,55,091 kg in 2022 from 2,18,888 kg in 2018.
The cocaine seizure increased from 35 kg in 2018 to 218 kg in 2022, while heroin seizure went up to 5,410 kg from 1,258 kg during the same period.
Hashish seized along the border area of Pakistan and Bangladesh in 2020 was 927.74 kg in Jammu and Kashmir and 289.26 kg in Gujarat. In 2022, the seizure figures were 573.84 kg in J&K and 933.37 kg in Gujarat.
Heroin seized along the border area of Pakistan and Bangladesh in 2020 was 952.46 kg in Punjab, 159.36 kg in J&K and 37.29 kg in Gujarat. In 2022, 1,614.74 kg was seized in Punjab, 741.59 kg in Gujarat and 239.65 kg in J&K.
In a major case, in a joint operation of the NCB and the Navy, 2,525.67 kg of Methamphetamine was seized at the South Jetty Naval Base in Kochi on May 13 this year, said the reply.
Replying to another question from Member Jose K. Mani, the Minister said the use of the darknet and cryptocurrencies for drug trafficking had been noticed. The NCB registered 61 such cases from 2020 to 2022. A special task force on darknet and cryptocurrency has been constituted to monitor suspicious transactions related to drugs.
