Drugs at IGIA: NCB sleuths to keep an eye on suspect fliers

Alarmed by a spate of drug couriers and passengers being intercepted at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here, anti-narcotics sleuths have decided to keep a strict vigil on the facility with the help of CISF security personnel.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), an organisation under the Union Home Ministry, will soon enter into an official Memorandum of Understanding with the CISF to detect and notify all big or small cases of narcotics at both the domestic and international terminals of the Delhi airport.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) is the mandated security agency of the IGIA and its personnel are deployed across the facility including the designated exit and entry points.

"The sheer volume of drugs carried by the suspected passengers has alerted the agencies and hence both NCB and CISF have come together for a stricter vigil on these couriers and to check the movement of contraband from IGIA," a senior official said.

The MoU mandates that both agencies will keep each other in the loop when any intelligence or interception of narcotic drugs or couriers is recorded. The agencies will also have a designated officer, at all times, to act as a Liaison Officer in case of an interception of illegal drugs.

The NCB control room in the national capital will be in constant touch with the CISF intelligence and security authorities at IGIA under the new system.

The NCB, because of its limited manpower, cannot deploy its sleuths at the airport 24x7 as compared to the large deployment of CISF personnel at the facility, they said.

The CISF, during the last year, had intercepted eight people, including three foreign nationals, with drugs at the airport and the estimated value of the recovered contraband was about Rs 5.67 crore in the domestic market while the same was approximately Rs 34.02 crore in the international market.

Some more arrests and seizures were made in the first three months of this year too when air fliers were detected with the contraband, flying mainly to domestic destinations in the North Eastern states.

In case of any narcotics interception at IGIA, the CISF used to intimate the NCB which would later register a case under anti-narcotics laws. This used to take time and under the new arrangement this time period is expected to be cut short, the official added.
The NCB and CISF are expected to cover more civilian airports in the country under the new arrangement shortly.