Bihar govt forms task force to tackle narcotic drug trade

Patna, Sep 18 (PTI) The Bihar government has announced the constitution of a task force unit to effectively tackle illicit trade and smuggling of narcotic and psychotropic substances, a police officer said on Thursday.

According to a notification, the Prohibition and anti-Narcotics Task Force, will be headed by an officer of ADG or Inspector General rank.

ADGP (Headquarters) Kundan Krishnan said, “The police have decided to merge the domains of prohibition and narcotics units into a single state-wide task force, for which stations will be established in order to carry out coordinated action against illicit trade and drug abuse”.

The move was aimed at dismantling drug networks systematically, he said adding: “Only arrests will not work. We need a strong framework and capable officers to break the nexus.” The new department will have 339 sanctioned positions including 100 new ones.

Krishnan said the force will map ‘forward and backward linkages’ in the supply chain.

“Our focus is on wholesalers, as we are seizing properties of established offenders, and breaking the larger networks,” he added.

Krishnan acknowledged the contributions of central agencies, special task force and district police in this direction.

Citing recent operations in Dumraon, Purnea, Kishanganj and Aurangabad, he noted that considerable checks have been ensured on the misuse of narcotic and psychotropic substances.

“In some districts like Muzaffarpur and Vaishali, a new capsule-based narcotic product was seized and multiple chains were dismantled,” the police officer said.

The ADGP also highlighted that women, too, are often used as mules for smuggling narcotic products and liquor in the dry state. PTI SKS NN