CRPF Director General A P Maheshwari on Friday called on all agencies to deepen collaboration to tighten the noose around the "evil" of illegal drug trade which targets the "large prey base" hidden in the country''s young demography.
Maheshwari said the CRPF is going to "further up its ante" against the illicit trade.
The paramilitary force has to tackle the menace in the northeastern states where it has deployed about 38 battalions to combat insurgency and other internal security challenges. A senior CRPF officer said the force has destroyed large tracts of illegal marijuana plantation in various states, including Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
Throwing light on the expanse of the illegal trade, Maheshwari cited the provisional data of the Narcotics Control Bureau, and said over 5 lakh kg of illegal drugs were seized, over 25,000 acre of poppy and cannabis plantation was destroyed last year.
The CRPF chief said more than 33,000 cases of illegal drug trade were registered.
Addressing his personnel during a webinar on the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, Maheshwari said given the large prey base hidden in the country''s young demography for drug peddlers and the big money the trade mints for traders and terrorists, "we all have to expand and deepen our collaboration against the evil."
He said the task huge because of "safer routes" for drug trade via the darknet and the misinformation spun by crafty traders.
"Let us resolve to ramp up our policing efforts to help arrest the spread of the drug menace while making humanitarian interventions to help our young mass ease themselves out from the suffocating shackles of illicit drugs," the DG said.
According to WHO estimates, he said, around 275 million were using illegal drugs in 2016 and some sources claim at least 2 per cent Indians are active users of illicit drugs.
The 3.25-lakh-personnel-strong CRPF is the lead internal security force of the country.
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