Over 2,300kg of drugs seized by Delhi Police to be set afire

NEW DELHI: In a first-of-its-kind operation, over 2,300 kg of drugs worth crores of rupees, which were seized by Delhi Police, will be set ablaze on Wednesday. The drugs are being destroyed on the lines of a procedure followed by agencies like narcotics control bureau after court orders, officials said.
“The action is being taken by Delhi Police for eradicating the drug menace from NCR under GOI’s ‘nasha mukt Bharat abhiyan’,” a spokesperson said.
The drugs will be destroyed at an incinerator at Nilothi in outer-west Delhi.
Lieutenant governor Vinay Saxena, police commissioner Sanjay Arora and members of a committee for disposal of narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances will supervise the procedure, which is scheduled to take place at 10.30am, the official added.
Union home minister Amit Shah has been vocal about zero tolerance on drugs. Following his instructions, various enforcement units like NCB and police units have been cracking down upon the narcotics cartels and ensuring that the recovered drugs are destroyed.
Earlier in October, Shah had overseen the destruction of 14,000 kg of drugs worth 1,864 crore by NCB units of Delhi and Gujarat as part of a special drive.
While chairing a high-level meeting on drug trafficking and national security in Gandhinagar, Shah said that over 1.6 lakh kg of drugs had been destroyed so far across the country, exceeding the target set by the ministry to destroy 75,000 kg of drugs in 75 days during the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
Drug seizures in India have substantially increased in the last eight years, the data shows. “From 2006 to 2013, about 1.5 lakh kg of drugs worth Rs 768 crore were seized, while from 2014 to 2022, about 3.3 lakh kg drugs worth Rs 20,000 crore were seized,” an official said.