Kochi drug haul worth more than all seizures under UPA rule: Shah

New Delhi, May 20

Laying the foundation stone for the National Academy of Coastal Policing (NACP) campus at Okha in Gujarat’s Devbhumi Dwarka district, Union Home Minister Amit Shah today said security forces must always remain “alert” against “neighbours”.

Noting India had 15,500-km land and 7,500-km-long sea boundary, Shah, without naming or identifying the countries, said, “We also have neighbours against whom we always need to be on alert.”

Talking about the recent drug haul off the Kochi coast in Kerala, the Home Minister said the value of the seizure was more than the cumulative value of narcotics seized during the 10-year rule of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre before the BJP came to power in 2014.

In a jibe at the Congress, he said the lapses in coastal security led to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. “The Navy and Coast Guard caught drugs worth Rs 12,000 crore off the Kerala coast recently. This is more than what was caught in an entire year in the past. During the 10-year rule of the UPA, narcotics worth Rs 680 crore were seized. And we have confiscated drugs worth Rs 12,000 crore in one instance. It proves that the security scenario has improved,” Shah said.

Nearly 2,500 kg of methamphetamine worth around Rs 12,000 crore was seized from a vessel in Indian waters along the Kerala coast in a joint operation by the Navy and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) about a week ago.

“Security experts have admitted that India’s security has strengthened and citizens living inside the country and near the borders feel safer after Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014,” the Union Home Minister said.

Referring to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, when Pakistan-based attackers entered the city through the sea route, Shah said lapses in the coastal security led to the tragedy.