A total of 106 Nigerians were among 660 foreign nationals arrested for drug trafficking in India last year, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has revealed.
According to The Indian Express, Nepalese nationals topped the list with 203 arrests, followed by Nigerians (106) and Myanmarese (25). The report also noted arrests of 18 Bangladeshis, 14 Ivorians, 13 Ghanaians, and 10 Icelanders for drug-related offences.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah released the NCB’s annual report during the 2nd National Conference of Heads of Anti-Narcotics Task Forces of various states and Union Territories, which began on Tuesday.
The report highlighted increasing use of drones for drug trafficking, with Punjab recording 163 cases and seizures including 187.149 kg of heroin, 5.39 kg of methamphetamine, and 4.22 kg of opium. Rajasthan reported 15 drone-related cases and the recovery of 39.155 kg of heroin, while Jammu and Kashmir recorded one case with 0.344 kg of heroin seized.
“India faces a growing challenge in combating narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances trafficking due to its geographic location between the Death Crescent (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran) and the Death Triangle (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos),” NCB Director General Anurag Garg said.
He added that states like Punjab, Rajasthan, and Jammu & Kashmir are vulnerable to heroin smuggling from Pakistan, while north-eastern states such as Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh are affected by proximity to Myanmar. Coastal routes through Mumbai, Gujarat, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu are increasingly exploited for synthetic drugs.
Addressing the conference, Shah said the government was determined to bring drug traffickers operating abroad within the ambit of the law. “The CBI has done very good work on this. I appeal to all heads of ANTF to coordinate with the CBI for the extradition of fugitives. This will not only dismantle narcotics gangs but also terrorism networks,” he said.
Shah noted that efforts must now focus on all levels of drug cartels: those operating at entry points, those distributing to states, and those selling locally.
He urged states to adopt advanced technologies such as darknet analysis, cryptocurrency tracking, communication pattern analysis, financial flow analysis, and machine learning models to tackle trafficking networks.
He warned that India’s proximity to major global drug-supplying regions makes the fight against narcotics crucial for national development.
