NCB to launch campaign against overstaying foreigners involved in drug trafficking
New Delhi, Aug 18
The NCB, in association with State/UT Police and Immigration authorities, will launch a fortnight-long nationwide campaign "Trinetra" in the first week of September to identify illegally overstaying foreign nationals suspected to be involved in drug trafficking, an official said.
The campaign will focus on intelligence-based identification and verification of such persons, examining their immigration status and links to drug trafficking networks, and taking appropriate legal action in coordination with the concerned authorities, the official said in a statement.
The initiative forms part of NCB's broader network-centric approach to disrupt the individuals, facilitators and support systems sustaining organised and transnational drug trafficking in India, it said.
The campaign has been announced in the backdrop of the recent arrest of four Nigerian nationals who were overstaying in the country and operating a transnational drug network.
The NCB said that the arrest of overstaying foreign nationals involved in illegal narcotics trade brings into focus the need for greater vigilance regarding foreign nationals who continue to stay in India after expiry of their visas and indulge in illegal activities.
It said hotels, guest houses, landlords and other accommodation providers must comply with legal provisions governing accommodation of foreign nationals, including timely furnishing of prescribed information about their stay to the authorities under the Immigration and Foreigners Act 2025.
Such reporting is important not merely for immigration regulation but also for enabling law-enforcement agencies to identify illegally overstaying foreign nationals and prevent their involvement in organised criminal activities, the NCB said.
In pursuance of the Government of India's policy of Zero Tolerance against Drugs and sustained focus on dismantling entire drug trafficking networks rather than individual seizures, the NCB, in coordination with state police authorities, disrupted a drug trafficking network involving foreign nationals illegally overstaying in the country.
In an operation spread over several weeks, the NCB arrested five foreign nationals, including a woman, illegally staying in the country to run a transnational drug trafficking network from New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and seized contraband valued at nearly Rs 15 crore.
— IANS
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