Drug smuggling through darknet, cryptocurrencies increased: Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that there has been an increase in drug smuggling through the darknet and cryptocurrencies which is also responsible for terrorismThe Home Minister made the remarks at a highlevel regional meeting on drug trafficking and national security in Gujarats capital Gandhinagar on WednesdayShah said that on the one hand narcotics are eating the youth like termites and on the other hand the illegal money coming from the narcotics trade nurtures terrorismAlso Read Amit Shah to inaugurate lay stone of projects worth Rs 6629 core in HaryanaHe said that to keep the youth safe and to combat the financing of terrorism all the Central and state agencies have to fight this as a common battle and have to winShah said that the major drug smuggling issues in western states include the increasing maritime smuggling of heroin from the west coast illegal cultivation of narcotics such as opium ganja and poppy use of couriers and parcels in drug smuggling darknet and increase in drug smuggling through cryptocurrenciesShah said that during the recent investigation of cases new trends have emerged in drug trafficking in western states and necessary action needs to be taken to tackle these new trendsThe Home Minister said that among the states of the western region of the country Gujarat Maharashtra Goa and the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu have a vast coastline additionally Rajasthan and Gujarat share borders with PakistanShah said that there has been an increase in the smuggling of South Central Asian heroin through the sea route as well as the increasing cases of heroin smuggling through the IndoPak border is a matter of concernSharing details drug smuggling cases the Home Minister said that from 2006 to 2013 a total of 1257 cases were registered while from 2014 to 2022 3172 cases were registered which is a total increase of 152 per centSimilarly from 2006 to 2013 a total of 152 lakh kg of drugs were seized which increased to 333 lakh kg from 2014 to 2022 earlier its value was Rs 768 crores which has now increased to Rs 20000 croresShah said that a drug addict is not a criminal but a victim He stressed on the need to destroy the entire network of drugs by attacking both the source and destination of drugs by adopting toptobottom and bottomtotop approachesThe Home Minister also stressed on strict implementation of various provisions of the NDPS Act He stressed the need to consider setting up fasttrack courts to ensure speedy trialsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever