The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has constituted a narcotics cell to curb drug trafficking through trains and is set to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for capacity building, information sharing and joint operations, the anti-drug agency said on Thursday.
Government’s Target Against Drug Trade
The development comes as drug law enforcement agencies in India work towards the Centre’s target of uprooting the drug trade from India by December 31, 2029 — a deadline announced by Union home minister Amit Shah at a conference on Tuesday.
Home minister Shah in his address had said that the time has come to move from a seizure-centric approach to targeting trafficking networks and cartels. Replying to a query on drug trafficking through railways at the third National Conference of Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) Heads of States and Union Territories, NCB director general Anurag Garg said the RPF had already constituted a narcotics cell, according to an NCB statement. “The proposed MoU between the NCB and RPF will institutionalise capacity building, exchange of information and joint operations between the two agencies,” the NCB said in a statement on Thursday. “The fight against drugs is the most difficult of all battles, but it can’t be abandoned and must be won by December 31, 2029,” Shah had said at the conference.
