Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala on Friday proposed a permanent interstate coordination mechanism involving the five southern states and central agencies to strengthen action against drug trafficking and organized cross-border narcotics crime under Operation Toofan, the anti-narcotics drive launched by the state police.The proposal was announced by home minister Ramesh Chennithala after chairing an interstate coordination meeting of police chiefs from southern states and senior officials of central enforcement agencies at the state police headquarters. The meeting was convened to enhance coordination under “Operation Toofan: The Narco Hunt”, which the state govt described as India’s largest anti-narcotics campaign.The minister said each participating state would appoint a nodal officer of SP rank or above, while central agencies, including the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Customs and the Railway Protection Force (RPF), would also nominate nodal officers to facilitate real-time intelligence sharing and joint enforcement operations. He said a joint operation with the southern states and central agencies to block the major drug trafficking routes into Kerala would begin soon. Karnataka’s home minister is also expected to visit Kerala for follow-up coordination discussions.Chennithala said the district anti-narcotic special action force (Dansaf) would be further strengthened to improve anti-drug operations at the district level without affecting regular law-and-order duties.He also announced that two new NDPS courts would be set up shortly in Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam to strengthen the disposal of narcotics cases, while the state would also implement the Centre’s recommendation to establish 10 more such courts.Stating that drug trafficking networks are increasingly using online platforms and courier services, the minister said surveillance and enforcement against such channels would be intensified. Distribution of medicines without valid prescriptions would be strictly regulated, and the health department and police would conduct joint inspections to prevent the misuse of medicines with narcotic potential through medical stores.The next phase of Operation Toofan will focus on preventing drug trafficking through all major entry routes into Kerala, including state borders and transport networks such as buses, trains, aircraft and boats, with the objective of making the state drug-free, he said.The coordination meeting was attended by Tamil Nadu DGP Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal, Puducherry DGP Shalini Singh, Karnataka ADGP (law and order) R Hithendra, Customs Preventive commissioner for Kerala-Lakshadweep T Tiju, NCB deputy director general R Sudhakar, IB joint director Don K Jose, DRI additional director general K Padmavathi, Telangana anti-narcotic bureau SP P V Padmaja, Andhra Pradesh elite anti-narcotic group for law enforcement SP (operations) K M Maheswara Raju, RPF divisional security commissioner Mohammed Hanif and other senior officials from state police forces and central agencies.The minister also announced that ADGP (law and order) P Vijayan has been appointed chief police coordinator for the forthcoming Sabarimala pilgrimage season.
