There’s a substantial increase in orphan drugs near the Gujarat coastline. In the Indian context, Orphan Drugs are intended to treat a condition that affects fewer than five lakh people in the country. It’s also referred to as illegal narcotics.
According to a city-based tabloid, the amount of unclaimed drugs recovered and seized by coastal security, paramilitary, and defence personnel between April and August this year is greater than the total amount of abandoned Charas found between 2021 and 2022.
International traffickers dump these drugs in the Arabian Sea, and they get pulled towards the Gujarat coastline. The report added that the first lot of illegally drowned drugs was found in Kutch in May 2020.
Further, it reported that in the last five months, government officials seized a total of 258 kg of Charas either floating in the shallows near the seashore of Kutch or near Jakhau Port. As much as 120 kg and 109 kg of abandoned Charas were found in 2021 and 2022.
Of the 258 kg of charas grabbed between April and August 2023, 160 packets of 1 kg each were found just in August, recorded as the highest in a month in the last three years.
Between May 20, 2020, and August 30, 2023, officials seized a total of 1,861 kg of Charas that drifted into the Gujarat coastline. Gujarat Police, BSF, ICG, Indian Navy, and Customs Department officers stationed near the Jakhau Port seized the lot.
The report added that the Kutch West Police, under whose jurisdiction the Charas is seized, have filed 136 entries regarding the seizure of the drug and eight complaints over the last three and a half years.
However, only 8.12 kg of abandoned Heroin has been recovered from the coastline in the last two and a half years: 2021 (1 kg), 2022 (4 kg) and 2023 (3.12 kg).
Officials claimed that these drugs are part of failed drug smuggling operations, dumped by traffickers when threatened by security agencies.
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