Ahmedabad: Gujarat Police will set up dedicated Anti-Narcotics Wings (ANW) in every district and police commissionerate, with the units ordered to become operational within seven days, State police chief G S Malik said on Sunday.These ANWs will function as specialised teams dealing exclusively with offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Existing LCB, SOG and local police teams will continue to register and investigate narcotics cases.Each district ANW will comprise a police inspector, sub-inspector, two ASIs or head constables and four constables, along with a dedicated vehicle and driver. In Ahmedabad and Surat cities, two units each will be formed, while Vadodara and Rajkot will have one unit each.The units will monitor suspected drug peddlers and identified hotspots and recommend preventive action under the PIT-NDPS Act against habitual offenders. At the district level, ANWs will function under the supervision of the respective SPs, while city units will be supervised by senior police officers.Police said local stations would retain responsibility for detecting NDPS offences. However, disciplinary action would be initiated if negligence or laxity by local police comes to light during ANW investigations.According to police data, more than 3,700 NDPS cases were registered and 5,346 people arrested in Gujarat in the past five years. Police also claimed to have seized over 1.36 lakh kg of narcotic substances valued at around Rs 13,600 crore during the period.State police also said it was using an AI-based system, NARIT (Narcotics Analysis & Retrieval-Augmented Generation-based Investigation Tool), to track dark-web activity, financial trails and international links in narcotics cases.
