The Narcotics Control Bureau ( NCB) is an Indian central law enforcement and

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

agency under the

Ministry of Home Affairs An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the i ...

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

. The agency is tasked with combating

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, ...

and the use of illegal substances under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. Established in 1986, it is responsible for coordination with the Indian state governments and other central departments, implementation of India's international obligations with regard to drug trafficking, and assisting international and foreign drug law enforcement agencies.

Formation

The Narcotics Control Bureau was created on 17 March 1986 to enable the full implementation of The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 and fight its violation through the Prevention of Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988. The law was established to fulfill India's treaty obligations under the

Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961 (Single Convention, 1961 Convention, or C61) is an international treaty that controls activities (cultivation, production, supply, trade, transport) involving specific narcotic drugs and lays down a ...

Convention on Psychotropic Substances The Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971 is a United Nations treaty designed to control psychoactive drugs such as amphetamine-type stimulants, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and psychedelics signed in Vienna, Austria on 21 February ...

, and United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. Officers in this organisation are drawn from

Indian Revenue Service The Indian Revenue Service (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ), often abbreviated as IRS, is a civil service that is primarily responsible for tax collection, collecting and administering Direct tax, direct and indir ...

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service (IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became Partition of India, independent from the British Empire. Along with the Indian Admini ...

and Paramilitary forces in addition to directly recruited members.

Organisation

The Narcotics Control Bureau's national headquarters is located in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, the national capital. Its field units and offices are organised by zones and are located in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Indore Indore (; ISO 15919, ISO: , ) is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The commercial capital of the state, it has been declared as the List of cleanest cities in India, cleanest city of In ...

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

Jodhpur Jodhpur () is the second-largest city of the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, after its capital Jaipur. As of 2023, the city has a population of 1.83 million. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Jodhpur district and ...

Chandigarh Chandigarh is a city and union territory in northern India, serving as the shared capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana. Situated near the foothills of the Shivalik range of Himalayas, it borders Haryana to the east and Punjab in the ...

Jammu Jammu () is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute ...

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

Guwahati Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

and

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

. In the wake of recent cadre restructuring in NCB, new offices were opened at Agartala, Raipur, Visakhapatnam, Gorakhpur, Jalpaiguri, Itanagar, Bhopal, Cochin, Jaipur, and Srinagar. Further, erstwhile sub-zonal units viz Amritsar, Dehradun, Mandi, Mandsaur, Imphal etc. were upgraded to Zonal units in same locations or shifted to other location for better drug law enforcement, keeping in view of newer trends in drug trafficking. The Director General of NCB is mostly an officer from the

(IPS) or the

(IRS). Apart from the direct feeder grade, officers in this organisation are also drawn from Indian Revenue Service, Indian Police Service and other Paramilitary forces. The Narcotics Control Bureau is also represented on the Economic Intelligence Council. NCB is affiliated to Home Ministry, which was made responsible for administering The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. The NCB is outside the ambit of the Right to information Act under Section 24(1) of the RTI act 2005.

Functions

The chief purpose of the Narcotics Control Bureau is to fight drug trafficking on an all-India level. It works in close cooperation with the Customs and Central Excise/GST, State Police Department, State Excise and Prohibition Department,

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the domestic crime investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and gover ...

(CBI), Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) and other Indian intelligence and law enforcement agencies both at the national and states level. The NCB also provides resources and training to the personnel of India's Drug Law Enforcement Agencies in fighting drug trafficking. The NCB also monitors India's frontiers to track down points where smuggling activities take place with foreign traffickers.

References

{{Law enforcement agencies of India Executive branch of the government of India Indian intelligence agencies Government agencies established in 1986 Federal law enforcement agencies of India Illegal drug trade in Asia Drug policy of India 1986 establishments in Delhi Drug control law enforcement agencies Narcotics Control Bureau Domestic intelligence agencies

Formation

Organisation

Functions

See also

References