NCB Director General Rakesh Asthana tells Bhavna Vij-Aurora that the agency is going to be relentless in its pursuit of the Rhea Chakraborty case as an example has to be made of it.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is in the headlines for the Rhea Chakraborty case. NCB Director General Rakesh Asthana, a 1984-batch Gujarat cadre IPS officer, tells Bhavna Vij-Aurora that the agency is going to be relentless in its pursuit of the case as an example has to be made of it.
Use of illicit drugs seems to have become a common phenomenon in the country. What is fueling the supply and the demand?
I agree drugs have become a menace and its use is prevalent among all sections of the society. It’s the geographical location of India, sandwiched between the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle, that makes it both, a transit point and a destination for illicit drugs. As much as 95 per cent of world’s heroin originates in the poppy fields of Afghanistan and Myanmar.
The drug market is big in India due to the sheer volume of the population. There are cartels that try to push drugs into the country, mostly using land and maritime routes. Some of our not-so-friendly neighbours are hand-in-gloves with big cartels. Rebel provinces of Shan and Kachin (both share borders with China too) are the hub of manufacturing heroin and Yaba tablets. Chemical precursors used are smuggled from China and also from India. The finished product also finds its way back into India.
Cocaine lands on the west coast from Canada and US via Brazil and Dubai.
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You mention drug cartels. What is the NCB doing to liquidate them?
“The drug market is big in India due to the sheer volume of the population. There are cartels that try to push drugs into the country.”
NCB is the nodal agency for enforcement of drug laws, and attack the supply side. It is a small agency and coordinates with other security and enforcement agencies, both of the states and the Centre. We have done several seizures across the country including in Delhi, Mumbai, Manipur and Mizoram through coordination with the other agencies via NCORD (Narcotics Coordination), an agency that was revamped in 2019.
We eliminate illicit poppy and cannabis fields. It’s a huge task since too much money is involved. Look at the figures, one kg of heroin costs Rs 1 crore with 0.5 gram costing Rs 1,500, and the estimated level of consumption is one tonne per day!
We have identified top 100 drug mafias operating in the country and investigations are in progress. The Kasargod network is one of them. We are working in conjunction with other agencies and countries towards our goal of ‘nasha-mukt’ Bharat or drug-free India.
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Where does the Rhea Chakraborty case come in? Is it big enough for NCB to step in?
Rhea’s case is not a small one. It reveals a systematic racket that has links in Dubai and with terror groups. Drugs are procured for rave parties and money is used for narco-terror. The curated marijuana, ‘bud’, costs Rs 8 lakh per kg.
People like Rhea are role models and youngsters look up to them. They cannot be condoned. We have to make examples out of them to send a message of deterrence to others.
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Is the NCB going to question others from Bollywood based on Rhea’s statement?
We are in the process of collecting evidence. It is only after that we will go for the big guns. I can assure you, we will be relentless. We have to get to the root of the issue.
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