New Delhi: Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) seized nearly 1.3 lakh kilograms of illicit drugs worth around Rs 2,000 crore last year. The crackdown spanning Delhi, Mumbai and other parts of the country also led to the arrest of 994 drug traffickers, including 25 foreign nationals, and resulted in a rise in convictions, according to the agency’s year-end report released on Wednesday. It registered 447 cases last year and secured the conviction of 265 offenders, including nine foreigners. Of them, 39 convicts were awarded the maximum sentence of 20 years, while 210 received prison terms ranging between 10 and 20 years. Courts imposed fines totalling Rs 3.3 crore on the offenders. The conviction rate climbed to nearly 67% in 2025, up from 60.8% in 2024, aided by closer monitoring of trial cases at zonal, regional and headquarters levels. A major focus of the agency was on dismantling international drug syndicates. It issued 37 Interpol notices, including red, blue and silver ones, against fugitive traffickers and successfully secured the deportation of five absconding accused from the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.High-profile operations, such as Crystal Fortress, which led to the seizure of 328 kg of methamphetamine in Delhi, and Med Max, which exposed a pharmaceutical trafficking network spanning more than 10 countries across four continents, highlighted the agency’s expanding global footprint. Ketamelon, another of the agency’s operations, resulted in the busting of a major darknet syndicate.The bureau also intensified action against infrastructure supporting production of drugs. It busted six clandestine laboratories in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh and seized 110 kg of synthetic drugs. In order to choke financial gains of the syndicates, assets worth Rs 96.7 crore were frozen in 70 cases.The agency destroyed 77,773 kg of seized narcotics to prevent recirculation. Public participation expanded through the Union govt’s Madak-Padarth Nished Asoochna Kendra helpline (1933), which recorded 1.19 lakh citizen interactions, resulting in the bureau zeroing in on 110 cases that led to multiple seizures.
