In a bid to effectively rein in the drug menace, Haryana Police has set up specialized drug enforcement machinery in the form of Anti-Narcotics Cells (ANCs) in all districts in the state.
Director General of Police, Manoj Yadava on Friday said that this cell would have three-tier set up at the state, range and district level to tackle drug menace in a holistic manner through enforcement, education, engagement and liaison with different agencies both civil and police at different levels.
He said that state level ANC would be headed by IG/ special task force and would be assisted by one SP, 2 DSPs, 4 Inspectors and 15 NGOs and others. One unit of this cell would be stationed at Panchkula.
The Range ANC would function under the direct supervision of Range ADGs/IGs. They would be assisted by their respective range staff including ADA. Their role would be of supervision of the District ANCs and plugging the loopholes. Similarly, the district ANC will be headed by a DSP level officer and assisted by Inspector CIA and 7 to 15 NGOs and other ranks, depending on the drug situation in the district, the DGP said.
District SP will directly review and supervise the work of District ANC. Commissionerates will have single district ANC and Commissioner of Police would also perform the tasks of Range ANC, he said.
Yadava said that all ANC officials would undergo one week training module on control of narcotics at Haryana Police Academy Madhuban. These trained officials will further train other Investigating officers in the district on NDPS Act cases investigation.
Talking about the tasks of state ANC, the DGP said that it would coordinate with external drug control agencies like National Crime Bureau, neighbouring states, interstate Drug Secretariat, opium producing states, etc. and district and range ANCs to identify the complete narcotics supply chain including routes of drugs reaching Haryana.
It will also identify the possibility of narco-terrorism having links with Haryana based drug cartels besides creating a database of kingpins of drug cartels, major financers, and criminals arrested in drugs related cases of more than Rs 50 lakh.
They will raid and arrest the violators of NDPS act and participate in interstate investigations and submit monthly report to DGP about the activities and the achievements of the cell.
The range ANCs will monitor the performance of district level ANCs to optimize their effectiveness and also, scrutinize the NDPS Act cases investigation and plug the loopholes in the compliance of NDPS Act that could lead to acquittal of the criminals.
The range ANCs will also be spearheading the community outreach program for creating awareness about the drug menace in the state, engagement with different stakeholders including various government departments, NGOs and rehabilitation of drug addicts with the help of field units in this aspect, the DGP said.
On the other hand, the tasks of district ANC will be to identify all the known and potential drug peddlers who operate in their area of responsibility and create a computerized database that would store all the relevant details useful to keep tab on narcotics related illegal activities.
They will conduct raid and arrest the violators of NDPS Act and investigate the NDPS cases in the district in which contraband is valued more than Rs 5 lakh, Yadava said.
The district ANCs will also identify high prevalence drug usage areas and highly vulnerable places such as Universities and Colleges. ANC police officials will regularly patrol these areas to curb free flow and easy availability of drugs and also with aim to develop sources among drug users, he added.