Thiruvananthapuram (Keralam) [India], July 10 (ANI): Keralam Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Friday said the southern states have agreed to strengthen coordination against drug trafficking, asserting that the common goal is to eradicate the drug menace from the region following a meeting of Directors General of Police (DGPs) and central enforcement agencies under Operation Toofan.

The meeting, held at the Police Headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, brought together DGPs of southern states along with officials from central agencies, including intelligence agencies, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Customs, to chalk out a joint strategy against narcotics trafficking.

'Today, all the southern state DGPs met here at the police headquarters. This is to strengthen Operation Toofan, which is successfully being implemented in Keralam. All the participating DGPs and officials congratulated the Keralam government for implementing such a massive programme with the help of the people. Our aim is to eradicate drugs from the southern states,' Chennithala said after the meeting.

He said the participating states agreed to enhance intelligence sharing and coordinated operations to crack down on drug networks operating across state borders.

'In future, we will be coordinating together to nab all the drug peddlers and get rid of this menace in Keralam and the southern states. Intelligence sharing will be there, coordinated effort will be there and the police will work in tandem so that the drug peddlers cannot damage society,' the minister added.

Chennithala said the meeting focused on tackling the growing presence of international drug syndicates in southern India.

'We have made a strategy and we are aware that the international mafia is prevalent in the southern states. They are changing their strategy day by day. So Central Intelligence, Customs and DRI were also present in the meeting. This meeting was very fruitful, and I feel that with the presence of the central agencies and the neighbouring state police chiefs, Operation Toofan will be more successful,' he said.

The Home Minister said each participating state would nominate a representative to ensure sustained coordination.

'We will have one representative from every state, and they will work in tandem for more coordination to curtail the effect of the drug menace. Our aim is to eradicate drugs from these southern states,' he said.

He also said the Centre has planned a similar initiative at the national level. 'The Central government has also called for a meeting of the DGPs. They are also planning in a big way to eradicate drugs,' Chennithala said.

Ahead of the meeting, Chennithala had said in a post on X that drug traffickers do not operate within state boundaries and that law enforcement agencies should respond with a coordinated approach.

'If state borders do not apply to the drug mafia, then the law enforcement agencies confronting them should not be bound by boundaries either. With the objective of tracing and dismantling the sources of narcotics flowing into Keralam from neighbouring states, an emergency joint meeting of South Indian states is being convened at the Thiruvananthapuram Police Headquarters,' he had said.

The meeting was convened as Keralam intensifies its anti-drug enforcement through Operation Toofan, a statewide campaign targeting drug trafficking and the illegal possession of narcotic and psychotropic substances.

The campaign has resulted in thousands of arrests and multiple cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, according to state authorities. (ANI)