Need to step up ocean security to curb drug smuggling: Amit Shah

New Delhi, March 24

Union Home Minister Amit Shah today said security in the ocean needed to be strengthened and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) was “fully committed to totally eliminate the menace under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.

The minister, however, contended that controlling the drug menace was not just the Centre’s fight, but also that of the states, society and citizens.

“At least 60-70 per cent of drug smuggling takes place through the sea route,” he said while addressing a regional conference on “Drug Trafficking and National Security” in Bengaluru.

“We need to have a top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top approach, sparing no one,” the minister said, adding there was need to investigate the chain of network down below when a big fish was caught.

“When we catch a big fish, we need to investigate the entire chain of network down below. If drug addiction is not curbed, it will become an incurable ulcer in the body,” he said.