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Gujarat Police is expanding its anti-narcotics machinery with 41 specialised wings across the state. (Img: Pinterest)
Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Police is substantially augmenting its institutional machinery to combat narcotics trafficking, with the State establishing 41 specialised Anti-Narcotics Wings across its police districts and commissionerates.
The initiative seeks to move anti-drug enforcement beyond conventional policing by creating dedicated units tasked with intelligence gathering, detection, investigation and disruption of narcotics networks.
The expanded enforcement framework assumes particular significance for Gujarat, given its extensive coastline, major ports and strategic position within national and international trade corridors that have featured in investigations into the movement of contraband.
The 41 Anti-Narcotics Wings are envisaged as specialised enforcement units operating within the existing police structure while remaining linked to the State-level Anti-Narcotics Task Force.
Their focus will extend beyond the seizure of prohibited substances to the identification of the larger criminal networks facilitating their procurement, transportation and distribution.
The specialised units are expected to develop local intelligence, monitor trafficking patterns and assist in building cases against individuals and syndicates involved in the narcotics trade.
The emphasis on intelligence-led policing is aimed at enabling investigators to move upstream—from the recovery of contraband to identifying the financiers, suppliers, couriers and distribution channels sustaining the illicit trade.
Gujarat is also setting up six dedicated police stations exclusively for narcotics-related offences.
The creation of specialised police stations is intended to provide an institutional setting for handling investigations that frequently involve complex financial trails, multiple accused persons and inter-State or international linkages.
Such investigations often require coordination between different law-enforcement jurisdictions, making specialised investigative capacity crucial to securing sustainable prosecutions rather than merely recording individual seizures.
Technology is another significant component of Gujarat's revamped anti-narcotics strategy. The State is deploying an artificial-intelligence-based tool under the National Automated Regulatory Information Tool (NARIT) framework to assist authorities in analysing information and identifying patterns relevant to drug-related offences.
The use of technology is expected to strengthen the analytical capabilities of investigating agencies by helping them detect linkages and patterns that may not be readily apparent through conventional investigation.
The emerging enforcement model reflects a broader shift in the manner in which narcotics offences are investigated. Instead of treating every seizure as an isolated criminal episode, the State is seeking to map the ecosystem behind the movement of drugs.
This includes identifying the organised networks involved in financing, procurement, transportation, storage and distribution of narcotic substances. Such an approach becomes particularly consequential in cases involving inter-State and cross-border trafficking, where the principal actors may operate far removed from the location where a consignment is ultimately intercepted.
The Anti-Narcotics Task Force will provide the overarching coordination mechanism for the specialised units. The arrangement is designed to facilitate the flow of intelligence between different police jurisdictions and enable agencies to pursue cases whose evidentiary or operational dimensions extend beyond a single district.
The State-level coordination is also expected to improve the ability of investigators to identify recurring offenders and trafficking networks operating across multiple jurisdictions.
The combination of 41 Anti-Narcotics Wings, six dedicated police stations and technology-assisted intelligence analysis marks a significant expansion of Gujarat's institutional response to drug trafficking.
The architecture is designed to create a layered enforcement mechanism-localised intelligence and field intervention at the level of specialised wings, dedicated investigation through narcotics police stations, and broader coordination through the ANTF.
The underlying objective is to make narcotics enforcement more proactive, intelligence-driven and network-oriented, with the focus shifting from merely intercepting illicit consignments to dismantling the organised criminal infrastructure that enables the drug trade.
