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The Supreme Court has slammed the police authorities and law enforcement agencies for not taking any steps for the prevention of smuggling of seized narcotics worth crores from police malkhanas across the country.Justice Deepak Gupta stated Malkhanas as a place from where large quantity of drugs are smuggled out. The bench laughed at the missing drugs and asked if the rats have eaten them.
The court has ordered the police to destroy the seized drugs after preserving the samples for trial under Section 52A of the NDPS act. In 2016, the same matter came up before the court wherein the court said that what is burnt by them in the garb of destruction of seized drugs could be “cow dung”.
The court further said, that there is a possibility that the drugs seized every year could be re-entering the market, by the way of sale by lower-level staff in the agencies. The Court blamed the states and the Centre for not having proper policy for treatment of seized drugs and due to the loopholes in the system, people within the Narcotic Control of Bureau are aiming at making profit.
The directive was issued by the court on the basis of the information given by the senior lawyer that drugs worth hundred crores are seized every year, whereas only 5-10% of the drugs are only destroyed. Such a matter was raised when the court asked the Police authorities the reason of not selling the seized vehicles in cases where nobody comes forward to claim the ownership after several years. The police station has been thus ordered to frame a policy to dispose such material. The ASG submitted that it is mandatory to take permission from the courts before disposing the vehicles.
The Bench noted that a central registry must be set up in each district complex with assistance from Delhi High Court. The police further informed the Court that due to the excessive workload, more district Nazirs need to be appointed so that the record of the malkhanas be maintained.
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