5,651 kg heroin seized in 2021 from border states, Gujarat tops list of seizures: Govt in Parliament

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Drug law enforcement agencies seized 5,651.68 kilograms heroin in border states last year, the government informed the parliament during the ongoing Monsoon session. Gujarat topped the list of seizures with over 3,335.17 kilograms of the banned substances confiscated in 2021, the government said.

In a written response to a question by member of parliament (MP) Anil Agrawal, Union Minister of State Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai gave a detailed break up of drugs seized by various Drug Law Enforcement Agencies in states having international boundaries in 2020 and 2021. While 5,651.68 kilograms was seized in 2021 from 18 such states, about 3,285 kilograms of heroin was seized from 17 such states in 2020.

READ | India's top narcotics cop: Drug trafficking and use have increased significantly

This includes the largest seizure of narcotics in the country, which was reported in September last year at Mundra port in Gujarat. There, a heroin consignment weighing 3,000 kg, which the agencies said, was worth Rs 21,000 crore was seized by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence.

The 5,651.68 kilogram of heroin seized in 2021 would cost around Rs 40,000 crore. Each kg of heroin costs around Rs 7 crore, according to a rough estimate based on recent seizures.

In a recent interview with Moneycontrol, Sanjay Kumar Singh, deputy director general (operations) at Narcotics Control Bureau, said that in terms of harm, heroin remains the most abused drug followed by charas (cannabis).

According to a survey by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, at the national level, the most common opioid used is heroin with use of 1.14 percent, followed by pharmaceutical opioids (0.96 percent) and then opium (0.52 percent).

Among states, Gujarat has topped the list of seizures with 3,335.17 kilograms of heroin seized in 2021, the response said. The agencies had seized just 37.29 kilograms of heroin from Gujarat in 2020.

Gujarat is followed by Punjab with 819.18 kilograms, Meghalaya with 501.99 kilograms and Mizoram with 204 kilograms of heroin seized by agencies in 2021, the reply from Union Home Ministry said.

Also, read | How Gujarat ports remain hot transit point for drug smugglers with latest seizure from Mundra

The minister also said that India has signed 26 bilateral agreements, 15 Memorandum of Understandings and two other agreements on security cooperation with different countries for combating illicit trafficking of
narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances.

“The government introduced the Narco Coordination Centre (NCORD) in 2016 to have effective coordination of actions among various Ministries, Departments, Central and States law enforcement agencies,” the ministry said in the response.