A high-level meeting of police chiefs of seven states, NIA, NCB, Narcotics Control Bureau Haryana and Special Task Force Haryana officials was held in Panchkula on Friday to discuss strategy on preventing drug trafficking, control organized crime, crack down on gangsters and other criminal activities in the states of North India, including Haryana.

According to a Haryana Police spokesperson, in this meeting, discussions were held on strengthening of mutual coordination to prevent criminal activities in seven states - Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, Chandigarh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. Apart from this, discussions were held in the meeting regarding the implementation of the Inter-State Drug Secretariat and to prevent cross-border drug smuggling and organized crime and better coordination of the state police.

He  said that in the meeting, the issue of preventing drug smuggling was mainly discussed in detail. It was informed in the meeting that money is collected through drugs in criminal activities and terror etc., which is a matter of concern. It was also discussed in the meeting how criminals target the youth for the movement of drugs and the need for good coordination among all the states was emphasized to curb drug trafficking. All the officers agreed that a joint team of the states should be formed to share the data base of the criminals among the states. All the states will appoint nodal officers of SP rank in their state for better implementation of the Inter-State Drug Secretariat so that information can be exchanged in real time.

Different states gave their views on various issues related to strengthening the Inter-State Drug Secretariat and criminal activities. During this, they also shared the efforts being made and best practices being followed by them regarding crime control in their states. During this, senior police officers of various states presented an outline of the current status of crime and the challenges through presentations by different states. It was also informed that in the current environment, criminals are increasing their crime network abroad and committing crimes in India while sitting there.

Through the presentation, NCB Deputy Director General Sambit Mishra said that there is a need to identify the drug trafficking routes so that all the states can stop the cross-border smuggling of opium and other narcotics. Drugs are the main source of income for organized crime.

Giving information about organized violent crime in the state, SP Special Task Force Wasim Akram said that currently 80 criminal gangs are active in Haryana, out of which eight are big gangs involved in extortion in the Delhi NCR region. Apart from this, in the meeting, a detailed discussion about the use of SIM cards and different networks etc. used for crime, police verification of tenants and employees etc was held. All the gangs have made their point of contact abroad and are running their gangs while sitting there. In this direction, organized efforts of the police of all the states are very important. These infamous criminals are hiding in countries like Dubai, Pakistan, Armenia, Bangkok, Thailand to America, Portugal and Canada. It was informed that currently 35 look out notices have been issued by the Haryana Police and 22 passports have been revoked. Towards the end Haryana Police Director General Shatrujeet Kapur gave vote of thanks to the participants and highlighted the importance of dialogue within the neighbouring states.