HASAN HADI/Dehradun
Senior superintendent of police, STF, Navneet Singh Bhullar said that new initiatives are being taken under the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF). “These include purchase of new equipment and an increase in manpower. District-level ANTF teams working under SPs are also being strengthened. Besides, police station level teams are being reinforced,” he said, adding that awareness programmes are being conducted in schools and colleges and anti-drug committees have been formed.
This revamp initiative comes in the wake of the increased registered cases under the Narcotic Drugs Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in 2025 compared to the previous year.
In 2025, a total of 1,366 NDPS cases were registered while the figure was 1,159 cases in 2024. In 2023, the number of cases stood at 1,335. In terms of drug recovery, 5.84 kg of the synthetic drug methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) was recovered in 2025, compared to 0.372 kg in 2024 while no MDMA was recovered in 2023. In 2025, for the first time, 10,472 bottles of syrup were recovered by STF.
Bhullar further said that cases related to synthetic drugs are increasing while cases related to natural drugs like opium and cannabis has been showing a declining trend. He also pointed out a rise in the misuse of Schedule H medicines. “Police strategies are continuously being updated to tackle these changing trends and the STF is working accordingly,” he stated.
Providing more details, STF officials said that 1,697 accused had been arrested in NDPS cases in 2025, which is higher than 1,489 arrests made in 2024. In 2023, a total of 1,789 accused were arrested. The STF recovered 250.24 kg of charas in 2025 while 260.75 kg was recovered in 2024. The STF also recovered 69,860 injections in 2025 which is nearly three times higher than the recoveries made in 2024 and 2023. In cocaine cases, only 0.02 grams of cocaine was recovered in 2025, compared to 0.379 grams in 2024. The STF recovered seven blot LSD papers in 2025 while 2,058 blot LSD papers were recovered in 2024.
