NCB to work with other agencies to curb drug trade in NE: Official

Guwahati, Dec 10 (IANS) Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Director General Satya Narayan Pradhan on Friday said that the NCB would work closely with the agencies of the northeastern states and Central Para-military forces to curb the menace of drug trade and drug trafficking in the region.

The NCB chief said this while addressing a two-day workshop-cum-training for the central and state agencies in Guwahati.

Pradhan said that with better coordination between the state and central law enforcing agencies, the drug smuggling and its misuse would be curbed to a large extent.

Director General of Assam police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said that the state police, since May, have seized various drugs worth Rs 325 crore and registered 1,700 cases under Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

The police officer said that around 2,900 accused have been arrested which resulted in the seizure of psychotropic substances including 50 kg of Heroin, 37 kg of Opium and 133 vehicles of drug peddlers.

Mahanta said the drug trafficking from Myanmar and Golden triangle through the northeast corridor is still a potential threat, and the Assam Police are working on a strategy for reducing the supply and demand of drugs and its harmful effects.

During the inaugural session of the training, an app titled 'Drugs Free Assam' was launched by the DGP.

The app, developed by the CID along with the National Informatics Centre, would help the citizens of Assam to inform the Police about the selling, storage, shipment, usage of psychotropic substances instantly on a real time basis.

"Police can then act on such information immediately without any loss of time," the DGP said.

'Handbook for investigating officers of NDPS Act Cases', compiled by CID, Assam, was released by Pradhan.

Additional Director General of Assam Police, CID, A.Y.V. Krishna, said with the advent of Dark Net and use of Crypto Currencies, there is an emerging threat due to online drug trade which is now posing a challenge to the drug law enforcement agencies.

"The proceeds of drug trade are being laundered in the form of Crypto currencies. Hence, this particular training programme on 'Digital Forensics, Dark Net and Crypto Currencies' for the drug law enforcement agencies would provide a good opportunity to understand the latest trends in the narco trade and would act as a platform for knowledge sharing," Krishna said.

The CID Assam in collaboration with NCB has organised the two-day workshop-cum-training for drug law enforcement agencies of the northeastern states, central para-military forces posted in the region and Central agencies like Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and Customs.

In the two-day event, subjects like Dark web, TOR browser, Crypto-currencies, use of block chain technologies by law enforcement agencies, OSINT gathering tools, intelligence gathering and profiling of suspects on social media, digital forensics, CDR and IPDR analysis are being discussed.