Officers can now get Rs 20 lakh for drug seizures during career

An enforcement official will now be able to get reward totalling Rs 20 lakh during his career span for cases relating to seizures of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, according to fresh guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Rewards to informers and government officers, whose information and actions lead to seizures, have also been raised, the guidelines say.

“As per this policy, the reward sanctioning authority should also consider the factors while granting reward to informers, like accuracy of the information, degree of risk involved, extent and nature of the help rendered by the informer and whether the information also gave clues of the person involved in the drug trafficking racket,” the MHA said in a statement. The MHA also issued a list of narcotics and psychotropic substances on whose recovery informers will get a cash reward, ranging from Rs 240 to 2.40 lakh, depending on the quantity of the seized drug. On recovery of 1 kg cocaine, for instance, an informer will get Rs 2.40 lakh — the highest amount.