New Delhi, Oct. 16 -- The fight against narcotics is no longer merely a law-and-order challenge. It is a battle for the future of our youth, the stability of our societies and the security of our nations. India needs a regional compact that makes the narcotics business increasingly difficult, unprofitable and ultimately unsustainable. The first BIMSTEC Home Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi on October 13, 2026, offers an important opportunity to build precisely such a compact.
The institutional groundwork was laid at the Fourth BIMSTEC Summit in Kathmandu in 2018, when member countries agreed to establish a mechanism for meetings of Home Ministers to strengthen regional security cooperation. The adoption of the Delhi Declaration marks a step towards converting regional intent into coordinated action.
HM Amit Shah has now placed a clear strategic ambition before the country: to dismantle the narcotics ecosystem through sustained, time-bound action. India's National Drug Control Vision for 2026-2029 provides a three-year roadmap. BIMSTEC can complement this national mission by extending cooperation across borders, making it harder for trafficking networks to relocate, regroup or exploit jurisdictional gaps.
A fundamental shift in the war against drugs
What distinguishes HM Amit Shah's approach is the emphasis on targeting the source of the problem rather than treating every link in the chain as equally culpable. A person trapped in drug addiction is often a victim of a destructive ecosystem; the trafficker who profits from addiction is a principal perpetrator. This distinction matters. Drug users need prevention, counselling, treatment and rehabilitation. Traffickers, financiers and organised criminal syndicates must face the full force of the law.
The Golden Triangle: A Death Triangle
HM Amit Shah captured the gravity of the regional threat by challenging the reassuring connotations of the term "Golden Triangle". Referring to the narcotics-producing and trafficking region associated with Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, HM Shah described drug trafficking as "death trafficking", underlining that there is nothing golden about this trade. His warning was that narcotics are not simply an illicit commercial activity. They attack the lives of young people, the social fabric of communities and the future of generations to come.
That is why HM Shah called for a "Whole-of-Region" approach. The security of one BIMSTEC member strengthens the security of all. Cooperation must extend beyond diplomatic declarations to real-time intelligence exchange, coordinated investigations, stronger border surveillance, the tracing of criminal proceeds and effective extradition and mutual legal assistance. Drug syndicates must not be allowed to exploit differences in national laws, enforcement capacity or jurisdictional boundaries.
From declarations to decisive implementation
The Delhi Declaration provides a framework for advancing this agenda. The priority must now be effective implementation of existing BIMSTEC legal instruments, including the Convention on Combating International Terrorism, Transnational Organised Crime and Illicit Drug Trafficking, which entered into force in March 2021. The agreed action plans concerning narcotic drugs, precursor chemicals and money laundering must translate into operational outcomes.
Three priorities deserve particular attention. First, member countries should institutionalise secure intelligence-sharing channels, coordinated investigations and joint operations against major trafficking networks. Second, they must track the financial architecture of the narcotics trade, including illicit digital transactions and links between drug profits, organised crime and terrorist financing. Third, cooperation must target precursor chemicals, clandestine manufacturing facilities, maritime trafficking routes and emerging digital channels used to market and distribute illicit substances.
The 2029 horizon should be used to measure tangible outcomes rather than merely count meetings and declarations.
A campaign already delivering results
The national campaign provides evidence of the scale of enforcement now being undertaken. According to figures presented by HM Amit Shah at the Narco-Coordination Centre's apex-level meeting in June 2026, narcotics worth '40,000 crore were seized between 2004 and 2014, compared with '1.84 lakh crore between 2014 and 2026. The quantity of drugs seized rose from approximately 26 lakh kilograms to 1.18 crore kilograms over the respective periods. These figures reflect both the scale of enforcement and the continuing magnitude of the threat.
HM Shah's "Detect, Disrupt and Destroy" strategy seeks to dismantle the entire chain-from international suppliers and domestic distributors to financiers and kingpins.
For BIMSTEC, the lesson is clear: national enforcement must be reinforced by regional cooperation. Criminal networks operate across borders; the response must do so as well.
BIMSTEC can become the instrument through which that collective will is organised. The objective must be clear: choke the supply chains, cripple the financiers, dismantle the syndicates and ensure that traffickers can no longer treat the region as an easy market. PM Modi's vision and HM Shah's decisions and willpower can help choke India's drug trade and strengthen the regional effort against narcotics-a mission that will help save the future of millions of young people.
Views expressed are personal. The writer is a national spokesperson of BJP and an acclaimed author
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.