At least 106 Nigerians were among 660 foreign nationals arrested for drug trafficking in India last year, according to the country’s Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
The NCB’s annual report, released by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the second National Conference of Heads of Anti-Narcotics Task Forces, showed that Nepalese nationals topped the list with 203 arrests, followed by Nigerians (106) and Myanmarese (25). Other arrests included 18 Bangladeshis, 14 Ivorians, 13 Ghanaians, and 10 Icelanders.
The report also highlighted an alarming rise in drug smuggling through drones. Punjab alone recorded 163 such cases, with seizures of 187.1 kg of heroin, 5.39 kg of methamphetamine, and 4.22 kg of opium. Rajasthan reported 15 drone-related cases and recovered 39.1 kg of heroin, while Jammu and Kashmir recorded one incident.
NCB Director General Anurag Garg said India’s geographic position between the “Death Crescent” (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran) and the “Death Triangle” (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos) makes it highly vulnerable to drug trafficking. He added that while Punjab, Rajasthan, and Jammu & Kashmir remain exposed to heroin smuggling from Pakistan, India’s northeastern states suffer from proximity to Myanmar, and coastal states such as Mumbai, Gujarat, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu are increasingly being exploited for synthetic drug smuggling.
Home Minister Shah stressed the government’s determination to dismantle international drug cartels operating from abroad. He urged state task forces to collaborate with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to secure extraditions of fugitives, noting this would help weaken both drug and terror networks.
“The battle is no longer about catching small peddlers,” Shah said. “We must target cartels at entry points, distributors across states, and local retail networks. Every state must develop high-level strategies using modern tools like darknet analysis, cryptocurrency tracking, and machine learning.”
He emphasized that drug abuse is directly linked to national development and called for urgent, coordinated action to eliminate narcotics trafficking across the country.
