In a move to focus on drug cartels across the country, the Ministry of Home Affairs has sanctioned 195 posts of Intelligence officers in Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). The demand was for 301 posts but finally 195 have been sanctioned. Presently, there is no such post in the Bureau.
According to sources, the Bureau is now framing recruitment rules for these Intelligence officers (IOs). They will be selected from across the country through competitive examination and a few seats will be for the Government employees who want to work as Intelligence officers on deputation in the Bureau.
“The 60 per cent of posts will be filled by direct recruitment and 25 per cent by promotion,” said a senior NCB officer.
The Bureau has reserved 10 per cent of the posts for the limited departmental competitive examination among the surveillance assistant, Upper Division Clerks, lower Division Clerks, Hawaldar and sepoy and five per cent by promotion of surveillance assistant.
“It is intimated that 195 post of Junior Intelligible Officer has been sanctioned in NCB. The framing of the recruit rules of Junior Intelligence Officers is in process,” stated Deputy Director (Administration) Rohit Katiyar in a letter to Deputy Director Generals of Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai regions. He also had sought views from the all the officers pertaining to recruitment of the intelligence officers.
Till now, the bureau used to have all officers -- from intelligence officers to Director General -- on deputation. These were mostly drawn from police forces or revenue services for a period of three years. Now to ensure better functioning of the agency so that officers develop long-time information networks and thus be more effective, Government ruled that the NCB would have 80 percent of its strength through direct recruitment and only 20 percent of officers would come from outside on deputation.
Also, the Central Government wants to strengthen NCB to combat illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs that is fueling terrorism on Indian soil. The government is more concerned about the connection between drugs and terror happening across the country.
An Intelligence Bureau dossier on narco-terrorism stated that Pakistan’s drug industry, which relies on the produce, has risen recently and Pakistan’s ISI, is allowing the smooth flow of narcotics into India and the rest of the world through the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. The Intelligence Bureau had stated Dawood probably has one of the best networks in the world when it comes to drug-smuggling; it not only has its fallout in India, but in the United States of America, Nairobi and Thailand among other nations.
The senior officer stated that trafficking of drugs from southwest Asia to India is gaining ground as is trafficking of hashish and cannabis from India to across the world. Also other controlled substances as well as pharmaceutical preparations and prescription drugs containing psychotropic is an increasing operation.