Freezing drug assets gets easy in Punjab as Centre tweaks rules

The changes have been made after repeated requests from Punjab, with the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) flagging long delays in obtaining freezing orders

Drug peddlers in Punjab are set for a tough time as the Union government has streamlined the centralised online portal, making it easier for law enforcement officials to freeze properties under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, cutting the time from several months to just one week.

Under the new process, an SHO or an investigating officer (IO), instead of a senior superintendent of police (SSP), can fill out the necessary paperwork and obtain orders for freezing of assets and properties within a week.

The changes have been made after repeated requests from Punjab, with the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) flagging long delays in obtaining freezing orders. ANTF works as the agency that coordinates with the district police to get the properties of drug peddlers frozen.

It is learnt that Punjab had raised the matter with the Centre, and the issue was also discussed at the northern zonal council meeting chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah.

Though the portal has been in use for the past few years but the process of applying for the freezing of properties was difficult and time-consuming. The cases were submitted through the senior superintendent of police (SSP) offices, and sometimes it took as much as three to six months or even more to obtain orders. Moreover, after the case files of freezing properties were sent to the central revenue department, the investigating officers (IOs) had to appear physically before the revenue department’s competent authority in Delhi, often multiple times.

Now, the process has been made the process easier with the SHO or IO, in cases having the authority to complete formalities online and defend the freezing orders through video-conferencing.

Under the new process, an SHO or an investigating officer (IO), instead of a senior superintendent of police (SSP), can fill out the necessary paperwork and obtain orders for freezing of assets and properties within a week.

Properties amassed six years before the registration of a commercial quantity case under the NDPS Act come under this preview. If an IO thinks the assets have been amassed from the proceeds of drug money, the properties are attached under Section 68-F of the NDPS Act. Once the orders to freeze a property are issued, the revenue record is updated so that no one can sell or purchase it. Section 68-F of the NDPS Act authorises officers can trace and seize or freeze illegally acquired properties. After issuing notice to the affected person and reviewing records, the authority may forfeit the property. The burden of proving the property is legally acquired lies on the owner. Appeals go to the appellate tribunal for forfeited properties, while confiscated assets are handled as per the illegally acquired property (receipt, management, and disposal) rules.

According to Punjab Police data, since April 2022, 1,122 properties worth ₹650 crore have been frozen. Out of these properties worth ₹133 crore were frozen in the past four months since the launch of ‘Yudh Nashian Virudh’ in March this year, according to information gathered from ANTF.

Timeline reduced to one week

Under the new system, after an IO submits freezing requests online through the portal, the competent authority will hear their plea via videoconferencing and issue orders within a week.

According to a senior ANTF official, this streamlined mechanism will significantly speed up action against the assets linked to drug trafficking.

“Punjab was raising the issue of making the process simpler. The state has frozen the maximum number of properties. In the past year, our figures are more than what other states have done collectively,” said a senior Punjab Police functionary.

Faster crackdown

Freezing orders within one week.

IOs can submit a proposal online instead of SSPs

No physical appearance is needed before the competent authority.

IOs and the accused’s lawyer to appear before competent authority via video-conference.

Since 2022: 1,122 properties worth over ₹650 crore frozen

Start of Yudh Nashian Virudh

280 properties worth ₹133 crore seized between March 1 to July 31

16,400 FIRs registered

25,646 drug smugglers arrested

1,059 kg Heroin seized

366 kg Opium recovered

405 kg Ganja recovered