The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has secured the return of fugitive drug kingpin Virender Singh Basoya from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in a major crackdown on a narcotics trafficking network.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced the development in a post on X on Friday, describing it as a new milestone in the Central government’s zero-tolerance policy against narcotics.
Shah praised the efforts of the NCB, saying Indian agencies had once again demonstrated that drug traffickers cannot evade the country’s law enforcement agencies by hiding abroad.
“Modi govt is relentlessly tracking down drug traffickers hiding abroad and destroying their entire ecosystem with a ruthless approach. Creating a new milestone in the policy of zero tolerance against narcotics, the NCB secured the return of fugitive drug kingpin Virender Singh Basoya from the UAE. By tracing the criminal through a top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top approach, our agencies have once again proven that no matter where drug traffickers hide, they cannot escape the long arm of Indian law,” Shah posted on X.
Earlier in April this year, the NCB secured the deportation of 59-year-old global drug kingpin Mohammad Salim Dola from Turkiye under ‘Operation Global-Hunt’. The operation was described as a major breakthrough in efforts to dismantle transnational narcotics syndicates linked to fugitive networks.
Dola, who had links with the Dawood Ibrahim syndicate, was detained by Turkish agencies in Beylikduzu and deported to India on April 28, 2026. The NCB took him into custody upon his arrival at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.
The NCB is India’s apex federal law enforcement and intelligence agency responsible for combating drug trafficking and illegal substance abuse under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. Established on March 17, 1986, the agency functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs and coordinates anti-drug operations with state police forces and international agencies.
(with ANI inputs)
