Cyber experts to help deal drug cases

The Prohibition and Excise Department is seeking the assistance of cyber experts of the police department to drug cases.

With the drug peddlers using online platforms and Darknet to supply the drugs, the excise officials, who are mostly adept in traditional methods, are finding it difficult to independently solve the cases.

“When it comes to using technology, especially online activities such as tracking the locations of peddlers or probing online transactions we are zero.

When it comes to using technology the prohibition and excise department is helpless

We still follow the traditional methods of deploying men and gathering intelligence or tracking the suspect physically,” said an official working with the enforcement wing in the department.

The department early this month busted a case pertaining to supply of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) to a few persons in the city by suppliers based in Jammu and Kashmir. “In such cases it is difficult for us to track down the culprits on our own. The transaction was carried out through Darknet. Finally, the help from the cyber crime experts of the state police has been sought to get to the supplier,” said an official .

“The performance of the department when it comes to busting drug rackets had increased. But we are not equipped to track down the suspects using mobile tracking system app. In police department, the officials at the station level track down the suspect but here we have to approach the higher-ups who in turn write to the police department,” said another official.

When contacted, Prohibition and Excise Director (Enforcement) Akun Sabharwal said that the department is seeking the help of the police whenever there is a need. “We do not feel an immediate need for sniffer dogs or having a small technical assistance unit on lines of cyber crime unit. Whenever, we need help we are approaching the police department and they are assisting us,” he said.