India will neither allow entry of drugs or narcotic substances on its soil, nor will it allow itself to be used as a passage for the same, stated Union Home Minister Amit Shah pointing at the government’s zero-tolerance policy on “narco-terror” in the country.
“Today, India faces a threat from narco-terror. The changing faces of terror due to the neighbours we have, these are the challenges we face and have to overcome. We have to ensure that we remain a step ahead of them,” said Shah after inaugurating the Centre of Excellence for Research and Analysis of NDPS (Narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances) at National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU), Gandhinagar on Monday.
The event was also attended by Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, Gujarat MoS Home Pradipsinh Jadeja, Union Home Secretary, government of India, Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau, Rakesh Asthana and JM Vyas, Vice-Chancellor of NFSU.
Shah stated that the CoE on research of NDPS will help find the origin of various drug substances and identify various types of substances.
CoE’s aim
The CoE on NDPS would assist the Central agencies and States in development and deployment of indigenous simple specific, sensitive and validated methods for quantification of NDPS, especially the new psychoactive designer drugs. It will also help in identifying geographical origin of the drugs, including predictive analysis based on GIS mapping of NDPS.
The Centre will conduct toxicological studies to understand the pharmacology and metabolism of the designer drugs and other illicit substances.
It will have methods and aspects involved in proliferation of new psychoactive substance into the market and will also have important role in identification of new emerging technologies in the world for use in enforcement and forensics, as well as developing India-specific equipment in collaboration with scientific institutions for detection, identification and classification of NDPS.
The CoE will also provide training to the CFSL/CRCLs/State FSLs and law enforcement officers on procedures/processes for detection and identification of NDPS.
During his address, Shah also stated that the government is looking to amend the criminal laws in the country. “We are looking to bring radical changes in the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and Indian Penal Code (IPC) by taking out obsolete sections which are no longer relevant, and introducing new sections which are relevant to the current situations and time,” Shah said in his address.
Shah also visited the Ballistics Research and Training Centre, Cyber Defence Centre and Brain Electrical Oscillation Signature Profiling (BEOS) Lab at the NFSU.