Ahmedabad, Sep 6: The Gujarat police will set up a dedicated Anti-Narcotics Wing in every district and police commissionerate of the state to intensify the fight against drug-related crimes and make it result-oriented, Director General of Police GS Malik has said.
The new units will function as specialised task forces dealing exclusively with offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and have been ordered to become operational within seven days, an official release said on Sunday.
According to an order issued by Malik to all police commissioners, range IGs and district superintendents of police, each such wing will comprise eight personnel -- one inspector, one sub-inspector, two assistant sub-inspectors/head constables and four constables.
A separate vehicle and driver will also be provided to each unit.
At the district level, the Anti-Narcotics Wing will function under the direct supervision of the superintendent of police.
In Ahmedabad and Surat cities, two units each will be formed, while Vadodara and Rajkot cities will have one unit each under the supervision of the Joint/Additional Commissioner of Police, according to the release.
The units will not be assigned work related to liquor or gambling and will not function under the supervision of the Local Crime Branch, Special Operations Group, Prevention of Crime Branch or Detection of Crime Branch, it said.
The unit will collect intelligence on all drugs covered under the NDPS Act and keep constant surveillance on drug peddlers, identified hotspots and hotels listed by the state-level Anti-Narcotics Task Force.
It will also identify habitual offenders eligible for preventive detention under the PIT-NDPS Act and send proposals to CID Crime, the release said.
However, the creation of the dedicated wing will not relieve local police stations of their responsibility to investigate NDPS cases. The order specifically directs local police to continue intensive and systematic efforts to detect and register drug offences.
The order also warns that if negligence, dereliction of duty or indifference by local police personnel is found during a probe by the Anti-Narcotics Wing, disciplinary action will be taken against the personnel concerned.
Monthly details of the work carried out by the unit will have to be prepared in a prescribed format and submitted to the police commissioner concerned and range IG between the first and fifth of every month.
The Gujarat government said the decision was aimed at making the state’s ongoing campaign against drug trafficking more focused and result-oriented.
The Gujarat police have registered more than 3,700 NDPS cases and arrested 5,346 accused in the last five years, the government said. During the period, more than 1.36 lakh kg of drugs valued at over Rs 13,600 crore were seized, it said.
It said the Gujarat police were also developing an artificial intelligence-based software, ‘NARIT’, to track dark web activity, financial trails and international links to help improve conviction rates in drug cases.
