Govt determined to take action against smuggling of narcotics: Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said his ministry is determined to take strict action against the supply and smuggling of narcotics in the country.

Addressing a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on the subject, ''Drug Abuse, Its Challenges and Regulation'', Shah also said that in the last three years, 17,20,574 kg of drugs worth about Rs 12,142 crore were seized in just five operations.

The home minister said the anti-drugs agencies have some challenges as India is located in the largest opium producing region of the world known as the "Golden Crescent", where Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran are also located.

''It is the firm determination of the Ministry of Home Affairs that we will take strict action on supply and smuggling," he said.

Shah said under the visionary guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his vision of ''Nasha Mukt Bharat'' (addiction-free India), all agencies, departments and ministries are taking several concrete and coordinated steps against drug abuse.

''I want to assure you that the government very strictly wants to stop the supply and smuggling of narcotics and with a lot of sympathy, is also trying to bring out the children who have become victims of it.

"That is why a committee consisting of several departments has been formed and coordinated among them all to formulate a multi-dimensional strategy and try to stop the proliferation narcotics," he said.