The Government of India has prepared a three-year roadmap from July 2026 to July 2029 to achieve the goal of making a ‘Drug-free India’ by 2029. The roadmap seeks to dismantle the entire narcotics network, covering drug trafficking, financing, organised criminal networks, and rehabilitation. The objective is to ensure that drug-free youth power contributes to the goal of Viksit Bharat by 2047.
The government has made the fight against drugs a national security priority. Narcotics trafficking destroys future generations, while the ‘dirty money’ generated through the trade could fund organised crime, illicit finance, and narco-terrorism. The government’s approach is, therefore, aimed not merely at seizing the networks but at dismantling them completely and addressing supply reduction, demand reduction, and harm reduction.
Since 2019, the action against narcotics has been transformed from isolated and seizure-centric efforts into a national, coordinated, and continuous campaign. A four-tier Narco Coordination Centre (NCORD) was set up in 2016 and restructured in 2019 to fight against drug trafficking at the apex, executive, state, and district levels. Dedicated Anti-Narcotics Task Forces (ANTFs) were constituted in all the states and union territories, integrating local police with the national strategy. A Joint Coordination Committee was also established to enable central agencies and state governments to take joint decisions to take coordinated action against major drug networks, their international connections and operational gaps.
Four-Pillared Roadmap
The Vision Document 2026–29 (or the roadmap) was prepared on the principle of ‘detect, disrupt, and destroy’. Its four pillars are intelligence- and operation-based enforcement, precursor and synthetic drugs control, demand and harm reduction, and capacity building and coordination.
The roadmap also adopts a quadrangular strategy to curb drug smuggling through the routes of the ‘Death Triangle’ (formerly Golden Triangle: Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand) and ‘Death Crescent’ (formerly Golden Crescent: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran).
The roadmap comprises 25 components and 200 action points, with defined timelines and responsibilities for implementing its objectives.
The strategy would move from targeting individual carriers to identifying, investigating, and dismantling complete drug trafficking networks, including suppliers, financiers, handlers, facilitators, and organised criminal syndicates. A bottom-to-top and top-to-bottom approach would strengthen investigations and help reach kingpins, associates, distributors, and suppliers.
The government has set measurable targets, including dismantling 100 major inter-state and transnational drug networks by March 2029 and bringing back 100 narcotics-related fugitives to India. By March 2027, end-to-end visibility of the narcotics supply chain is envisaged. At least 75 clandestine drug laboratories are targeted for destruction in 2026, as part of the broader three-year target of destroying 100 such laboratories.
Intelligence, Technology, and Financial Disruption
The roadmap places intelligence-led investigations, coordinated operations, and financial disruption at the centre of narcotics control enforcement. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has been strengthened through reorganisation of its cadre, enhanced manpower, zonal presence, and operational capabilities.
A National Integrated Database on Arrested Narco-Offenders (NIDAN), and integrated data analysis are being used to map drug networks, hotspots, modus operandi, and drug-wise seizures using Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) data fusion. Integrated data fusion is intended to strengthen coordinated action.
Financial investigation and the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PIT-NDPS) Act, 1988 are being made core-investigation standards, with major drug cases involving mandatory financial investigations and attachment of assets acquired through illicit drug trade. The approach seeks to strike simultaneously at hawala, benami properties, bank accounts, and proceeds of crime. The 1988 Act also enables preventive detention of habitual drug traffickers and people involved in the illegal narcotics trade. The roadmap also envisages completing forensic reports within 30 days to accelerate investigation and legal proceedings in narcotics-related cases.
Advanced surveillance systems, anti-drone technologies, AI-enabled profiling, and container scanning are to strengthen interdiction across land, sea, and air trafficking routes. The chemical and pharmaceutical industries are intended to be encouraged to adopt voluntary compliance measures, report suspicious transactions, and assist authorities in preventing diversion of prescription medicines for abuse as psychotropic substances.
Tackling Synthetic Drugs and Trafficking Routes
The growing availability of synthetic and designer drugs poses a particular challenge because clandestine laboratories can produce potent substances closer to consumer markets and adapt rapidly to enforcement measures. Special attention to methamphetamine, mephedrone, and emerging synthetic drugs alongside tighter control over their chemical precursors is, therefore, being given through strengthened precursor controls, intelligence-led operations, and disruption of clandestine manufacturing and trafficking networks.
The eastern border with Myanmar has emerged as a major narcotics trafficking challenge. The Manipur corridor along the National Highway 102, has become a principal entry route for heroin and methamphetamine. Another major route operates through Champhai in Mizoram, towards Assam’s Barak Valley through Aizawl and adjoining road networks. Manipur, Mizoram, and Nagaland face the sharpest frontline exposure because of porous borders and difficult terrain.
Mizoram accounted for 1,477 kilograms of amphetamine-type stimulant (ATS) seizures in 2025, out of the national total of 3,485 kilograms: Manipur accounted for 535 kg, Delhi 454 kg, Gujarat 308 kg, and Karnataka 164 kg, etc. These figures highlight the growing significance of India’s Eastern frontier in the narcotics control architecture.
The western coastline, particularly Gujarat and Maharashtra, is vulnerable to heroin and synthetic drugs originating from the Death Crescent region.
The southern and eastern seaboards have also witnessed increased trafficking activity linked to Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and the Golden Triangle region.
Moreover, maritime interdiction has become increasingly important as the use of fishing vessels, coastal craft, and other low-signature maritime platforms that can operate below the detection threshold of conventional surveillance systems have made detection and interdiction more-challenging. In 2025, four significant maritime interdictions resulted in seizure of more than 390 kilograms of narcotics, including 305.894 kilograms of amphetamine at Porbandar, 53.62 kilograms of ganja at Ramanathapuram, and 29.954 kilograms of hashish oil at V.O. Chidambaranar Port, Tamil Nadu.
Demand Reduction, Rehabilitation, and People’s Participation
The roadmap recognises that the fight against drugs cannot be limited to enforcement. Awareness, treatment, counselling, rehabilitation, and livelihood opportunities have been linked with the anti-narcotics campaign. The Madak-Padarth Nished Asoochna Kendra (MANAS), or the National Narcotics Helpline number, 1933, has been introduced to support persons affected by drug addiction.
The nationwide awareness campaign aims to reach more than 50 crore citizens and transform drug prevention into a people’s movement. Under the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, about 25 crore citizens have already been reached and administered a pledge, while 5.7 lakh citizens have been treated and rehabilitated drug addiction.
Educational institutions, youth organisations, sports bodies, and community organisations are being mobilised to promote drug-free campuses through awareness, counselling, early intervention, and pilot preventive drug screening initiatives. Through National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme (NSS), and My Bharat, lakhs of ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat Mitras’ will be prepared. The number of drug de-addiction centres is to be tripled to 1,751 through joint efforts of the Department of Social Justice, Health Department, and Prison Administration.
Social media platforms also require attention, as public drug channels on Telegram, WhatsApp, and Signal could provide listings, pricing, and delivery mechanisms, while auto-delete features make evidence collection difficult.
Strengthening the International and Financial Front
The roadmap adopts a mission-mode approach towards fugitives hiding abroad. Between July 2019 to July 2026, 274 wanted or absconding criminals were brought back to India from 36 countries. During the last three years, 401 Red Corner Notices were issued, including 182 up to July 2026. More than 1,400 central and state agencies have been connected through Interpol for faster information sharing.
Between 2019 and July 2026, assets worth Rs 17,874 crore belonging to fugitives were attached, while Rs 18,762 crore were recovered or restored. The government has also created BHARATPOL, a system that provides a well-organised mechanism by connecting more than 14 central agencies and the police of all states to facilitate the extradition of fugitives.
The scale of enforcement has increased substantially. From 2004 to 2014, 26 lakh kilograms of narcotics and psychotropic substances worth Rs 40,000 crore were seized. From 2014 to 2026, more than 1.19 crore kilograms were seized, valued at Rs 1.89 lakh crore. Between 2020 and July 2026, over 29,968 kilograms of synthetic drugs, including ATS, Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and methaqualone and mephedrone, worth more than Rs 19,600 were seized. From 2019 to 2026, a total of 93,34,000 kilograms of narcotics and psychotropic substances were seized. From 2024 to June 2026, enforcement agencies confiscated properties worth Rs 1,841 crore in 3,016 cases.
Towards Drug-Free India 2029
The Nasha Mukt Bharat 2029 roadmap combines coordinated enforcement, intelligence-sharing, financial investigations, precursor and synthetic drug control, rehabilitation, awareness and capacity building. Its mission-mode framework envisages timelines, responsible ministries, measurable outcomes, quarterly reviews, and result-based accountability.
The larger objective is to dismantle narcotics networks, prevent addiction, rehabilitate victims, and create drug-free educational institutions and communities. With coordinated national action against trafficking, financing, and organised criminal networks, alongside demand and harm reduction, the roadmap seeks to fulfil the resolve of a drug-free India by 2029, strengthening the foundation for drug-free youth power and achieving a Viksit Bharat by 2047.
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