Guwahati: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has shifted its focus from arresting drug couriers to targeting the kingpins behind transnational narcotics networks, Director General Anurag Garg said on Monday.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the BRICS Heads of Anti-Drug Agencies Meeting in Guwahati, Garg said the bureau had identified several key figures involved in cross-border drug trafficking and was working to bring them to justice.
“We are aware of the problem and are addressing it in a multi-phased manner,” he said, referring to narcotics trafficked into India through the Northeast.
Garg said Myanmar continued to be a source of methamphetamine and heroin entering India, a trend reflected in the NCB’s annual report.
“Rather than catching the petty couriers who carry it across the border, we are now concentrating on the kingpins. We have identified certain people on both sides, and the process to bring them in to face justice is on,” he said.
He cited the arrest of a key Myanmar-based drug trafficker in New Delhi in May as part of the bureau’s efforts to dismantle transnational narcotics syndicates.
Garg said the NCB was also strengthening state-level anti-narcotics task forces, describing state agencies as the frontline in combating drug trafficking. He added that the bureau had expanded its presence in the Northeast through new zonal and regional offices, contributing to enhanced enforcement and increased drug seizures over the past year.