Courier firms involved in drug trafficking to be booked as co-accused: Maharashtra CM Fadnavis

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said that while drug crimes have been brought under the ambit of the stringent MCOCA, courier services involved in illegal narcotics delivery will also be treated as co-accused.

Social media platforms like Instagram are used as a marketplace for such activities, Fadnavis said, asserting that his government has "zero tolerance" for the drug menace.

The CM, who holds the Home portfolio, was replying to a question in the state assembly on police action against drug trafficking in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts.

Fadnavis said that in Mumbai alone, 93 cases were filed in which 112 accused were arrested and drugs of Rs 7.93 crore were seized from January to February 11 this year.

Drug crimes have been brought under the ambit of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), he noted, adding that a provision of property seizure of the accused is incorporated under the Act.

The courier service will also be held as an accused and responsible, and made a "co-accused" if the drug delivery is done through it, the CM said.

Asserting that his government has a "zero tolerance" policy for such crimes, Fadnavis said police personnel involved in the drug trade have been terminated from service.

This is a challenge before the youth, and there is no compromise on the part of the government while dealing with the drug menace, he added.

The Maharashtra assembly last year passed a bill for bringing drug peddlers and narcotics crimes under the purview of the stringent anti-organised crime law MCOCA.

The MCOCA, passed in 1999, defines organised crime as unlawful activity by an individual, singly or jointly, either as a member of an organised crime syndicate or on behalf of it.

At present, those involved in drugs trade are booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Those arrested under the NDPS Act get bail and resume their illegal activities again, Fadnavis said last year, as he pushed for amending the law to book them under the MCOCA.