Narcotics Control Bureau
Meaning, origination and constituents of the term
NCB is the nodal agency for matters pertaining to drug law enforcement in India. NCB coordinates actions taken by various agencies of Central and State Governments related to drug law enforcement in the country and matters pertaining to drug abuse. The Government of India constituted the NARCOTICS CONTROL BUREAU on the 17th of March, 1986.
The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 which came into effect from the 14th November, 1985 made an express provision for constituting a Central Authority for the purpose of exercising the powers and functions of the Central Government under the Act.
The entire ethos of developing the Narcotics Control Bureau was derived from the National Policy on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances which is based on the Directive Principles, contained in Article 47 of the Indian Constitution, which directs the State to endeavor to bring about prohibition of the consumption, except for medicinal purposes, of intoxicating drugs injurious to health.
The government’s policy on the subject which flows from this constitutional provision is also guided by the international conventions on the subject.
The Motto of the Bureau is Dedication, Enforcement and Coordination, with its vision being endeavour for a drug free society through coordination and cooperation with all stakeholders and creating a synergy amongst them.
Official Definitions
Section 4(3) - The Central Government may, if it considers it necessary or expedient so to do for the purposes of this Act, by order, published in the Official Gazette, constitute an authority or a hierarchy of authorities by such name or names as may be specified in the order for the purpose of exercising such of the powers and functions of the Central Government under this Act and for taking measures with respect to such of the matters referred to in sub-section (2) as may be mentioned in the order, and subject to the supervision and control of the Central Government and the provisions of such order, such authority or authorities may exercise the powers and take the measures so mentioned in the order as if such authority or authorities had been empowered by this Act to exercise those powers and take such measures.
Legal Provisions
Executing a field operation is conducted as a charter function by the Drug Law Enforcement Officer.
The main job of a DLEO is prevention and suppression of illicit traffic in and abuse of Narcotic Drugs (ND), Psychotropic Substances (PS) and Controlled Substances (CS).
Psychotropic Substances: The substances covered in Section 2 (xxiii) under this heading are defined as any substance natural or synthetic or any salt or preparation of such substance or material specified in the Schedule to the NDPS Act. This Schedule contains 120 items and their salts & preparations.
The section 42 of NDPS Act, outlines the powers of entry, search, seizure, and arrest without a warrant or authorization for officers of certain central and state government departments. Key points include:
- Authorized Officers: Officers superior in rank to a peon, sepoy, or constable from central departments (excise, narcotics, customs, revenue intelligence, paramilitary, armed forces) or state departments (revenue, drugs control, excise, police) can exercise these powers if empowered by their respective governments.
- Conditions for Action: If an officer has reason to believe from personal knowledge or written information that:
- Any narcotic drug, psychotropic substance, controlled substance, or related evidence of an offense is present.
- Any illegally acquired property or evidence of such property, liable for seizure or forfeiture, is present.
- Powers Granted:
- Entry and Search: Officers may enter and search buildings, conveyances, or places between sunrise and sunset.
- Breaking Obstacles: They may break open doors and remove obstacles if faced with resistance.
- Seizure: They can seize drugs, substances, manufacturing materials, animals, conveyances, and documents or articles related to the offense.
- Detention and Arrest: They can detain, search, and if necessary, arrest any person believed to have committed an offense under the Act.
- Special Provisions:
- Officers below the rank of sub-inspector cannot exercise these powers against licensed manufacturers of drugs or substances.
- If obtaining a search warrant could compromise evidence or allow an offender to escape, officers may conduct searches between sunset and sunrise after recording their reasons.
- Reporting Requirements: Officers must send a written record of the information or grounds for their belief to their immediate superior within 72 hours.
Section 43 of the act states “Power of Seizure and Arrest in Public Places”
Authorized Officers: Officers from departments mentioned in Section 42 (e.g., central excise, narcotics, customs, revenue intelligence, paramilitary forces, police).
Section 44: Power of Entry, Search, Seizure, and Arrest for Coca Plant, Opium Poppy, and Cannabis Plant Offenses
Applicability: The provisions of Sections 41, 42, and 43 apply to offenses involving coca plants, opium poppies, and cannabis plants.
Reference Clarification: Terms related to narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances also include references to coca plants, opium poppies, and cannabis plants.
Section 45: Procedure for Seizure of Goods Liable to Confiscation When Not Practicable
Summary of the National Policy on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Services
National Policy on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances:
- Constitutional Basis: Based on Article 47 of the Indian Constitution, which advocates for the prohibition of intoxicating drugs except for medicinal purposes.
- International Influence: Guided by various international conventions on narcotic drugs.
Primary Functions:
- Coordination of actions by various offices, State Governments and other authorities under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 Customs Act, Drugs and Cosmetics Act and any other law for the time being in force in connection with the enforcement provisions of the NDPS Act, 1985.
- Implementation of the obligation in respect of counter measures against illicit traffic under the various international conventions and protocols that are in force at present or which may be ratified or acceded to by India in future.
- Assistance to concerned authorities in foreign countries and concerned international organizations to facilitate coordination and universal action for prevention and suppression of illicit traffic in these drugs and substances.
- Coordination of actions taken by the other concerned Ministries, Departments and Organizations in respect of matters relating to drug abuse.
Chiefly the Narcotics Control Bureau exists to fight drug trafficking on an all-India level. It works in close cooperation with the Customs and Central Excise/GST, State Police Department, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) and other Indian intelligence and law enforcement agencies both at the national and state level.
The NCB also provides resources and training to the personnel of India's Drug Law Enforcement Agencies in fighting drug trafficking. The NCB also monitors India's frontiers to track down points where smuggling activities take place with foreign traffickers.
Apart from its primary concerns it is also involved with dealing with various issues which give rise to secondary functions of the Bureau:
- Coordination among various Central and State Agencies engaged in drug law enforcement;
- Assisting States in enhancing their drug law enforcement effort;
- Collection and dissemination of intelligence;
- Analysis of seizure data, study of trends and modus operandi;
- Preparation of National Drug Enforcement Statistics;
- Liaison with International agencies such as UNDCP, INCB, INTERPOL, Customs Cooperation Council, RILO etc;
Other Authorities under NCB:
Distinction between the Narcotics Control Bureau and the Control Bureau of Narcotics
The NDPS Act has created statutory authorities such as the Narcotics Commissioner (Section 5), the Competent Authority (Section 68) (D) and the Administrator (Section 68).
The organization headed by the Narcotics Commissioner is known as the Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN). Similarly there is another authority called the Narcotics Control Bureau which was created through a notification under section 4 of the NDPS Act which states ‘Central Government to take measures for preventing and combating abuse of and illicit traffic in narcotic drugs, etc’ headed by its Director General who has previously served as an officer if the Indian Police Services and an Indian Railway Services officer.
Central Bureau of Narcotics:
The Control Bureau of Narcotics was established in the year 1950 with its headquarters in Gwalior Madhya Pradesh, under the pioneership of the Department of Revenue and Ministry of Finance.
India is one of the few countries that legally cultivate opium poppy and is the only country on earth that licitly produces opium gum.
The Central Bureau of Narcotics, Gwalior,
(i) licenses farmers to cultivate opium poppy;
(ii) supervises and controls the cultivation; and
(iii) procures the opium produced by the licenced cultivators. Narcotics Commissioner, is the head of the Central Bureau of Narcotics.
A Deputy Narcotics Commissioner is in-charge of each of the three opium growing States of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The Deputy Narcotics Commissioner is assisted by the Assistant Narcotics Commissioner and District Opium Officers.
Appearance in official database:
NCB being the national nodal agency coordinates with the Sister agencies and the State authorities for identification and destruction of illicit cultivation of opium poppy. A time-based action plan for the same has been drawn for every crop year since 2009, under the Chairmanship of DG, NCB. ADRIN (Advanced Data Processing Research Institute), Secunderabad has undertaken the project to identify areas under illicit poppy cultivation. Data for the project is collected through Remote sensing technology. The Indian remote sensing satellite, RESOURCE SAT is used for the collection of imageries by ADRIN. st The States intimate the details of identified areas/potential places of illicit cultivation to NCB Headquarters by 1 week of November, which are again transmitted to ADRIN for drawing the satellite images. The satellite images received from ADRIN are transmitted to the States (Plain area) in between last week of Jan to end of Feb and to the States (Hill area) between mid-April to mid-May for ground verification, identification and st destruction of illicit crop. The Plain States submit report regarding the destruction of illicit poppy crop in 1 week of April and the Hill States submit the report by end of June 2012. During the period January-June 2012, a total area of 2964.55.78 acres was destroyed by NCB and State agencies in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Maharashtra.
Reports of NCB
This explains (data) that the Narcotics Control Bureau disposed off various narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances during the quarter October-December, 2021 owing their vulnerability to theft, substitution, constraints of proper storage space.
The seizure of drugs in India by the NCB at prominent sites.
This includes the seizure of drugs, fake currency, foreign currency wildlife, etc along with an amalgamated result.
NIDAAN (National Integrated Database on Arrested Narco-offenders) Portal
NIDAAN: This is the first India based database prepared for the records maintenance of Narco-offenders.
- The National Integrated Database on Arrested Narco-offenders portal has been developed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
- It is part of the narcotics coordination mechanism (NCORD) portal that was launched in July 2022 during the national conference on ‘Drug trafficking and national security‘.
- The data for the portasal is sourced from the ICJS (inter-operable criminal justice system) and the e-Prisons (a cloud-based application) repository and it is planned to integrate it in the future with the crime and criminal tracking network system or CCTNS.
- The ICJS, an initiative of the Supreme Court e-committee, was created to enable seamless transfer of data and information among different pillars of the criminal justice system, like courts, police, jails and forensic science laboratories, from one platform.
Digital Services Provided by NIDAAN under NCB
- National Offender Search:
- Detailed information on offenders, including crime history, personal details, and court actions.
- Biometric and Alert:
- Fingerprint-based identification and verification of offenders.
- Alert notifications via email and SMS regarding offender activities.
- NCB Search:
- Internal search functionality within NCB's digital system.
- Data Filtering:
- Narrow search results by criteria such as state of residence, case type, case status, prisoner type, and date of release.
- Smart Data Visualization:
- Dashboards visualizing data by various categories, such as state-wise distribution, conviction status, age, and type of offense.
User Registration and Access:
- Existing Users: Can use ICJS login credentials to access the system.
- New Users: Must obtain login credentials through the CCTNS site administrator.
Purpose and Standard Operating Procedures:
- Document Purpose: To explain the features and functionalities of the NCB website and provide step-by-step usage instructions.
- SOPs: Detailed descriptions of features and routine activities for users to navigate and use the system effectively.
This summary captures the essence of the policy, the role of the NCB, and the functionalities of the associated digital services designed to manage narcotic offender information and enhance coordination among various authorities.
Significance & Importance:
It is a one-stop solution for all narcotics offenders‘ related data and will help investigative agencies as an effective tool to connect the dots while probing narcotics cases.
It hosts data about those accused who have been arrested and jailed for drug offenses and those who are “directly or indirectly involved in any narcotics or psychotropic substance.
Any agency can search for the crime history, personal details, fingerprints, court cases and appeals made etc. with regard to a drug offender from any part of the country.
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS
RAJYA SABHA
This data showcases the seizures of drugs under the NDPS Act in India from 2018-2022.
LOK SABHA REPORTS
The Government has introduced the NCORD mechanism in 2016 to have effective coordination of actions among various Ministries, Departments, Central and States law enforcement agencies dealing with narcotics. The mechanism was restructured in 2019 into a 4 tier structure as detailed under:- Apex Level Committee (headed by Union Home Secretary) Executive Level Committee (headed by Special Secretary (IS), MHA). State Level Committee (headed by Chief Secretary of the concerned State). District Level Committee (headed by District Magistrate).
Details of the quantity of drugs seized by NCB are not maintained Statewise.
Seizure of major Narcotic Drug/Psychotropic Substance/Controlled Substance by NCB during the year 2018-2022 is at Annexure-I. The details of destruction of illicit cultivation of opium poppy and cannabis by the NCB in various states in coordination with various Drug Law Enforcement Agencies during the year 2018-2022 is at Annexure III. (d): A Separate Cell for collection of intelligence inputs, its analysis, sharing and dissemination with other Drug Law Enforcement agencies both at National as well as International level has been created in NCB.
The seizure of major Narcotic Drug/Psychotropic Substance/Controlled Substance by NCB during the year 2018-2022 is depicted in the aforementioned data.
Official Database
References
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5473035/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5473035/
- https://narcoticsindia.nic.in/
- https://dor.gov.in/link/central-bureau-narcoticscbn
- sansad.in
- https://www.mha.gov.in/en/commoncontent/role-and-functions-narcotics-control-bureau
- www.indiacode.nic.in
- dor.gov.in
- narcoordindia.in
- https://www.india.gov.in/website-national-integrated-database-arrested-narco-offenders-nidaan
