Operation Garud: CBI seizes huge quantity of drugs during pan-India operation, 175 arrested

New Delhi: Acting on an input shared by the Interpol, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) carried out the biggest pan-India drug bust in recent times. The investigation agency made 175 arrests and registered 127 cases across 27 states and Union Territories of the country.

Named "Operation Garud", the anti-drug mafia raids were conducted in coordination with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and state police departments including Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Manipur.

The raids that started a few days ago, aims to dismantle organised crime syndicates, drug syndicates and narco-terrorism. Illicit drugs and psychotropic substances including 5.125 kg heroin, 33.936 kg ganja, 3.29 kg charas, 1365 gm mephedrone, 33.80 smack, around 87 tablets, 122 injections and 87 syringes of Buprenorphine, 946 tablets Alpazolam, 105.997 Kg Tramadol, 10 gm Hash oil, 0.9 gm Ecstacy pills, 1.150 kg opium, 30 kg Poppy Husk, 1.437 kg intoxicant powder and 11,039 pills/capsules were reportedly recovered.

"Drug trafficking networks with international linkages require law enforcement cooperation across international jurisdiction.

"In Operation Garuda, CBI led a global operation to target drug networks with international footprints for action against handlers, operatives, production zones and support elements," a CBI official was quoted as saying by the IANS.

The searches are still going on in many states.

Earlier this month, the CBI had taken several people into custody for circulating child sexual abuse material online. The CBI was alerted by Interpol’s Crime Against Children Unit headquartered in Singapore of CSAM being circulated in India using cloud-based storage technology. The Interpol unit received information about these downloadable child sexual abuse materials from New Zealand's National Central Bureau (NCB). The information was in turn passed on to CBI in India for action.

The CBI is the nodal agency for Interpol which has an International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) image and video database. Investigators from member countries are allowed to access the ICSE data.