New Delhi: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) fight against maritime trafficking, darknet and cryptocurrency-based trafficking, cocaine trafficking and NPS trafficking have been recognised by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as 14 NCB officers were awarded with Medals for Excellence.
"It is a matter of pride for the Narcotic Control Bureau that 14 of its officers have been awarded the medal this year and nine for conducting special operations and five for excellence in investigation," an NCB spokesperson said.
The special operations medal has been awarded to nine officers for conducting Operation Sagarmanthan-1 in February 2024, in which a total of 3,272 kg of drugs including charas (hashish), heroin and methamphetamine were seized from an Iranian fishing vessel off the coast of Porbandar in co-ordination in with officers of Indian Navy and Gujarat Police.
Gyaneshwar Singh, deputy director general, SD Jambotkar (additional director), Sagar Pratap Kaushik (assistant director), Sandeep, Yogendra Singh, Pratham Rathee, Mohit Kumar, Navnit Kumar and Akhil Remesh have been awarded Dakshata Padak for the operation for excellence in planning and execution of the operation in coordination with other agencies.
The recognition was given on the occasion of ‘Rashtriya Ekta Diwas’ with Kendriya Grihmantri Dakshata Padak (Union Home Minister's Medal for Excellence) for 2024.
It is awarded for extraordinary achievements in four fields including special operations and investigation by officers of various central organisations under MHA as well as all State/UT police forces.
Two medals for excellence in investigation have been conferred upon Chetan Sharma (inspector) and Sachin Kumar (inspector) of the Delhi Zonal Unit for their investigation of cases involving Zambada Cartel, the largest and best-rated darknet vendor in India, which involved retrieving evidence from darknet forums, decoding encrypted messaging apps like Wickr Me, Session, Jabber and establishing cryptocurrency transaction chains to successfully link Zambada cartel members to their real-world identity.
It is also the operation where the largest number of LSD blots (29,013) were seized in India. Medal for excellence in an investigation has also been awarded to Aravind MR, Superintendent (Ops), NCB headquarters for his role in dismantling an international Pseudoephedrine trafficking syndicate spread across Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and India, in which five persons including a Tamil film producer was also arrested by NCB in February 2024.
This investigation also earned accolades from the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime (UNODC), the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) and major investigative agencies like the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), USA, Australian Federal Police (AFP), Australia and New Zealand Police.
Dakshata Padak for investigation has also been awarded to Murari Lal, SI of NCB Bengaluru for his excellent investigation in unravelling linkages due to which an entire cocaine trafficking network involving foreign nationals spread across the country could be identified.
The Dakshata Padak has also been awarded to Akshay Hunurkar, inspector of NCB Chennai for his investigation to bust an international drug trafficking network involved in maritime drug trafficking between India and Sri Lanka across the Palk strait.
