Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday that doctors, scientists and others should take up research to see that narcotic substances are not used in medicines.
At a conference on combating drug trafficking, organised for BIMSTEC partner nations, Mr. Shah said India has adopted a zero tolerance policy towards narcotics and the country’s measures to control it will be overhauled so that smuggling of drugs is stopped completely.
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The “dirty money” obtained from narcotics trade is used for funding global terrorism and other transnational crimes, he said, adding “We will not allow drugs from any country of the world to enter into our country nor will we allow it to go out of the country.”
Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla said that the “large harvest of opium in Afghanistan has given added supply of heroin to Bay of Bengal nations”.
“The region has also become a transportation and consumption hub for lucrative cocaine that is being trafficked into BIMSTEC nations,” Mr. Bhalla said.
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According to an official statement, Asian countries are increasingly being affected by drug trafficking and BIMSTEC, being the key link between south Asian and south-east Asian nations, is one of the most effective platforms to tackle this global threat.
BIMSTEC is a regional organisation comprising seven member states — India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.