Anti-Narcotics Force

Anti Narcotics Force Pakistan
Law Enforcement overview
Preceding Law Enforcement
  • Pakistan Narcotics Board
Type Law Enforcement
Jurisdiction Pakistan Armed Forces
Government of Pakistan
Ministry of the Interior and Narcotics Control
Headquarters Nartional Park Road, Rawalpindi
Motto " Drug Free Society "
Annual budget 2012 federal budget
Minister responsible
Law Enforcement executive
Parent department Pakistan Narcotics Board
Website www.anf.gov.pk

The Anti-Narcotics Force (reporting name: as ANF) is a Federal Executive bureau of the Government of Pakistan, tasked with combating the narcotics smuggling and use within Pakistan. ANF works under umbrella of Pakistan Army and Ministry of Interior and Narcotcs Control. Due to misconception on Section 4 of ANF ACT 1997, the force's head consisted the active-duty general officer of Pakistan Army. Although the law prescribes that any competent person may be appointed as Director General. Currently a two star Army Officer, Major General Nasir Dilawar Shah is deputed as Director General. The ANF also has sole responsibility for coordinating and pursuing Pakistan narcotics investigations abroad.

The ANF is a civil law enforcement agency and its members are conferred powers of Police officers and thus governed by the Police order 2002, currently in force. Currently, because the administration includes only military personal not acquainted with civil laws or court procedures, the bureau has the highest dropout rates of employees of all the Government departments.

The Eighteenth amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan 1973 also has abolished the dangerous drugs topic from the concurrent list and hence the legal existence of Anti Narcotics Force at the Federal Level in under debate and consideration to be devolved to the Provincial setups.

History

The Pakistan Narcotics Board (PNB) was established in the Revenue Division in 1957 to fulfill Pakistan its obligations under the International Opium Convention of 1925. The Pakistan Narcotics Board consisted of representatives from the provincial governments and some federal ministries and divisions. Pakistan ratified the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961 on 15 August 1965. To meet its obligations under the said Convention, the government, through a declaration dated 8 March 1973, renamed Pakistan Narcotics Board as the Pakistan Narcotics Control Board (PNCB).

The Anti Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) was established in December 1991. In February 1995, PNCB and Anti Narcotics Task Force were merged to constitute the Anti Narcotics Force (ANF), which is now the Premier Law Enforcement Agency in the field of narcotics control. The ANF is assigned to:

Streamline coordination procedures among law enforcement agencies for the implementation of international obligations.

Make earnest endeavors to attain a drug-free society.

Translate the governments objectives into reality on issues pertaining to narcotics control.

ANF Setup

Anti Narcotics Force Headquarters is situated at Rawalpindi controlling its outfits through 5x Regional Headquarters i.e. North at Rawalpindi, KP at Peshawar, Punjab at Lahore, Sindh at Karachi and Balochistan at Quetta. Regional Headquarters are controlling their area of domain through their various Police Stations. There are 9x Directorates at HQ ANF:

Logistics Directorate

Enforcement / Operation Directorate

Law Directorate

Assets Investigation Directorate

Drug Demand Reduction Directorate

Planning & Development Directorate

International Cooperation Directorate

Information Technology Directorate

General Staff Dte

Association of other Institutions regarding Anti Narcotics and Anti Smuggling

At present, ANF is operating with around 1,500 personnel as against an authorized strength of 2,552. Other organizations associated with narcotics control are:

Airports Security Force

Pakistan Coast Guards

Pakistan CustomsProvincial Excise

Frontier Corps (KPK and Balochistan)

Frontier Constabulary

Pakistan Rangers (Punjab and Sindh)

Political Levies/Khasadar Force

Provincial Police (KPK, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan)

Pakistan Railways Police

Under the Ministry of Interior, a separate division – the Narcotics Control Division was established in 1989 to exclusively deal with drug-related matters.

Policy Review Board

To monitor the policies of Federal Government a Policy Review Board headed by Minister for Narcotics Control comprising 14 members from relevant Federal and Provincial Ministries was set up in 1997. Since a separate ministry for Narcotics Control has been set up therefore there is a need to revise the composition of this body. Existing composition of the Policy Review Board is as follows

Minister for Narcotics Control Chairman
Minister for Health and Social Welfare Member
Minister for Foreign Affairs Member
Minister of State for States and Frontier Regions Member
Governor NWFP Member
4 Ministers in charge of Provincial Home Departments Member
4 Ministers in charge of Provincial Health Departments Member
Minister for Narcotics Control(NWFP) Member
Secretary Ministry of Narcotics Control Secretary/Member

Narcotics Interdiction Committee

To make the coordinating role of the Federal Government effective and to ensure that narcotics interdiction by various law enforcement agencies proceeds under well- synchronized efforts, a Narcotics Interdiction Committee (NIC) has been set up with the following composition:

Secretary Narcotics Control Division Chairman
Inspector Generals of Police Punjab, Sindh, NWFP Balochistan, AJK, Islamabad Capital Territory and Northern Areas Member
Heads of Federal Civil Armed Forces Member
Director General, Federal Investigation Agency(FIA) Member
Director General, Intelligence and Investigation (Customs and Excise), Revenue Division Member
Director General of the Anti Narcotics Force(ANF) Member

ANF's Charter of Duty

ANF official checking passengers at Jinnah International Airport

Anti Norcotics Force (ANF) is responsible to perform the following

Supply Reduction

Limiting the smuggling trafficking and distribution of Narcotics Coordinating eradication of opium poppy Ensuring no heroin lab becomes functional Inquire/Investigate assets of drug barons Pursuing Legal cases relentlessly

Demand Reduction

Reducing the demand of illicit drugs through preventive education, treatment and rehabilitation as well as harm reduction programmes

Coordination Liaison at National and International Level

Enhancing international co-operation in the fight against drugs and liaison with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, International Narcotics Control Board, International Police, Narcotics Affairs Section (US Embassy), Drugs Enforcement Agency, Foreign Anti Narcotics Community, Drug Liaison Officers etc.

ANF Intelligence and Investigation

There are distinct stages for Investigating a case.

Stages

Assets of the convicts in narcotics cases are confiscated in favour of Federal Government through following stages usually:-

Laws

Assets Investigation is conducted under relevant sections / provisions provided by the following laws:-

Assets Performance-2016
Month / Year Frozen (Rs. In Million) Forfeited (Rs. in Million) Realized (Amount deposited in National Bank)
Jun 2016 Rs. 92.39 Million - -
May 2016 Rs. 43.286048 Million - -
Apr 2016 Rs. 209.552919 Million - -
Mar 2016 Rs. 6.95 Million - -
Feb 2016 Rs. 49.37105 Million - -
Jan 2016 Rs. 72.05 Million - -

SUMMARY OF NARCOTICS SEIZURES – 2013

Regional Directorate Cases Persons Arrested Kind & Quantity of Drugs Seized (in kg)
Opium Morphine Heroin Hashish Cocaine Others
Peshawar 102 107 69.907 – 249.989 3,678.45 - 103,563 kg AA / HCL, 1,110 kg HCL
Rawalpindi 157 191 73.4 - 287.878 1,130.35 2.365 2.04 kg Methamphetamine, 8,454 Ecstasy Tabs, 15,000 kg AA, 0.746 kg Ecstasy Tabs (powder)
Lahore 190 266 262.73 - 293.375 1,643.33 0.158 2.1 kg Amphetamine, 52.9 kg Ephedrine, 572.40 kg Ephedrine Mix Jam, 43 kg Ephedrine Mix Vanilla Powder, 82 kg Vanilla Powder
Karachi 154 99 48.453 - 1,989.696 35,120.44 11.593 26 kg Diazepam Tabs, 2.635 Psychotropic Tabs, 290 Librax Tabs, 210 Pentoxol Tabs, 90 Midazolam Tabs, 90 Nitrazepam Tabs
Queeta 66 40 12,836 776 1,602.285 60,620.54 - 4,650 kg Poppy Straw, 480 kg AA, 554 kg Cannabis
CD Ops 4 24 - - 50.156 3,000 1,000 -
Joint Ops 12 59 - - 362.78 - 15.00 16.20 kg Methamphetamine, 5,100 Diazepam Tabs
ANF Seizures 685 786 13,290.49 776 4,836.159 105,193.11 1,029.116 -
Others LEAs Seizures 60,898 60,297 11,411.886 2,129.5 3,326.086 114,166.158 1.275 -
Grand Total 61,583 61,053 24,702.376 2,905.5 8,162.245 219,359.268 1,030.391 -

SPEAR Strategy

ANF has organized a strategy which is recognized as SPEAR. The inscription details are as under :

Surveillance and Intelligence Acquisition

Proactive Prevention and Protection

Effective Enforcement

Alliances, Assistance and Cooperation

Rehabilitation and Awareness

National Drug Abuse Assessment Study of Pakistan 2008-11

External video
On patrol with Pakistan's anti-narcotics force

The past three decades have witnessed the massive proliferation and production of alcohol and other illicit psychotropic substances like heroin and cocaine in Pakistan. The government has instituted a series of measures to address the situation. However, the formulation of a comprehensive drug abuse control strategy demanded a realistic assessment of the scope of the problem.

The assessment study consists of three data collection studies namely, Key Informant, Treatment Registry and Four-Cities Study. Each of the studies can be treated as independent research. At the same time, however, it allows a comparison of indicated patterns from across the entire country by virtue of the statistical assumption that what applies to known data (i.e., actual geographical locales studied in detail), would also apply to similar locales (not studied in detail).

The study is geared to estimate the total population of hardcore heroin users, including intravenous drug users. The studys scope was ascertained in keeping with budgetary allocations.

It is important to note that this is an assessment study and not a survey as the estimates do not include drug use by household women, workplace, skilled and unskilled workers, students, transporters and other users.

Findings of the Study-Highlights

Prevalence Among both males/females in the age bracket of 15–45 years, there are 7,000,000 regular heroin users – an alarmingly high rate by international standards.

Major Drug of Abuse Heroin, is the most commonly used drug in Pakistan in terms of lifetime use and prevalence, followed by Alcohol.

Rural/Urban Heroin is equally popular in urban and rural areas. Heroin abuse, however, is another urban phenomenon.

Literacy and Employment Rates Heroin abusers, on average, have six years of education. Of the total number of heroin users, 43% are unemployed and 26% are engaged in full-time employment.

Age Group An examination of social and demographic factors reveals that 40% of the heroin abusers fall in the age bracket of 25–34 years.

Occupation Occupational grouping indicates that the frequency of drug abuse is highest among people belonging to the skilled and unskilled labour categories (47%), followed by business persons (16%), agricultural workers (5%) and students (3%).

Means of Financial Support Among Heroin abusers, 22% sustain themselves through casual work, 18% enjoy family support, 16% are beggars, 13% are drug peddlers, and 11% resort to petty thefts and pick-pocketing.

'Gender' For most drug types, abuse is not as common and pervasive among women as it is among the male population. Psychotropic substances are the most common drugs of abuse among women. It has also been found that women comprise only 3% of the total number of patients being reported, making it an important area for intensive research.

Problems Associated with Drug Abuse In all provinces (both urban and rural locales), heroin has been identified as the drug predominantly responsible for creating the social ills that result from addiction. Alcohol has been rated at number two. Whilst Cannabis is the also used in all areas, inmates do not necessarily perceive it as a cause of social upheaval.

Current Drug Use Among heroin users, 77% report using the drug on a daily basis. As for hashish/cannabis, 41% use it on a daily basis and 34% occasionally. Alcohol consumption remains more varied. However, most of the respondents (76%) report consuming alcohol twice or thrice a day or less, with only 10% reporting consumption for five or more days a week. Other significant drugs include opium and tranquilizers, which are currently being used by a quarter of all respondents. The majority of hardcore drug users consume multiple drugs – a fairly common phenomenon throughout the world.

Methods of Administration As many as 73% of the total heroin users either smoke the drug or inhale its fumes, while 11% snort it and 15% inject it. Intravenous drug use is accompanied by the risks associated with the spread of blood-borne infections like HIV/AIDS.

Treatment and Rehabilitation As for treatment and rehabilitation, 64% of the respondents report difficulties in getting treatment. For an overwhelming majority (80%), treatment is unaffordable. Lack of in-patient facilities in government hospitals is cited as the major deterrent for treatment by 23% of the respondents. An alarming 90% have received treatment for heroin addiction at some point in their lives.

Prison Contact 35% percent of the respondents are reported to have spent some time in prison for their alleged involvement in a drug-related offence.


Extradition of Drug Traffickers

As of 29 October 2005

Request for Extradition by the US 22
Extradited 8
Pending in Court 5
Out of Country 2
Not Yet Arrested 6
Died 1

International Obligations

Pakistan has ratified the following United Nations (UN) Conventions and regional bilateral treaties:

Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961 as amended by the 1972 Protocol.

United Nations (UN) Convention on Psychotropic Substances 1971.

United Nations(UN) Convention against Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 1988 and subsequent United Natrions (UN) resolutions, in particular the United Nations (UN) General Assembly s 20th Special Session Resolution S-20/4B.

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Convention on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 1990.

Protocol on Drug Matters with Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Countries.

Extradition

Extradition treaties concluded by the British government with 19 countries were adopted by Pakistan. These countries are Argentina, France, Portugal, Austria, Greece, San Marino, Belgium, Iraq, Switzerland, Colombia, Liberia, United States, Cuba, Luxembourg, Yugoslavia, Denmark, Monaco, Ecuador and Netherlands respectively.

Pakistan has directly concluded Extradition Treaties with Australia, Iran, Maldives, Turkey, Egypt, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Iran

Pakistan's International Initiatives

Pakistan hosted the Six Plus Two technical level meeting at Islamabad on 13–14 September 2001. The meeting was co-sponsored by Anti Nrcotics Force (ANF), Narcotics Affairs Section (NAS) and United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP).

Gulf Cooperation meeting was held in Islamabad in April 2004 due to Pakistans efforts.

Paris Pact Expert Roundtable Conference was held in Islamabad in April 2005 again due to the devoted and untiring efforts of Pakistan.

Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs)

In order to make joint efforts for the control of drug trafficking, the Government of Pakistan has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) with China, Iran, Russia, Egypt, Nigeria, UAE, Kyrgyzstan, Romania and Uzbekistan.

Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) with Indonesia, Kuwait, Syria, Egypt, Morocco and Thailand are in the pipeline.

World Anti-Narcotics Day

UNODC observes 26 June as the "INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST DRUG ABUSE AND ILLICIT TRAFFICKING", established by the UN General Assembly in 1987. This observance manifests to further escalate UN's resolve in creating a drug free society by reducing both demand as well as supply of illicit drugs and increasing awareness among general masses regarding drugs abuse. Each Year UNODC selects themes for International Drug Day and launches campaigns to raise public appreciation regarding the global drug issue and its effects on complete humanity. Past Observance themes for last 5 years were :

World Anti-Narcotics Day in Pakistan

The magnitude of drug menace not only undermines global public health, socio-economic synopsis and international stability, it has also become an issue of National Security for Pakistan. Pakistan itself is a poppy free country, but its population became a victim of regional opiate production. We are facing the brunt of trafficking of opiates and cannabis from the West, precursors from the East and Amphetamine Type Stimulants from elsewhere.

Each year International Drug Day is celebrated by Anti Narcotics Force. ANF celebrate Drug Day in a wholesome manner so as to generate a strong message for the international community and domestic masses for general awareness and society's participation by introducing a variety of drug demand awareness activities in addition to drug burning ceremonies.

To protect our National Security Anti Narcotics Force under the insight of Ministry of Interior, is working tirelessly in coordination with other law enforcing agencies of Pakistan.

Model Addiction and Treatment Centres

ANF is also playing a lead role in mass awareness and community participation programs to educate the people against drug abuse as Drug Demand Reduction has always been an important segment of our Strategy. ANF besides many awareness ventures runs 3 Model Addiction and Treatment Centres (MATRCs) at Rawalpindi, Quetta and Karachi and since their raising over twelve thousand patients have been treated.

Under the policy guidelines provided by NCD and with the cooperation of our allied countries, civil society and the media, ANF is doing the best it can and has had significant successes in all three regimes of operation i.e. Drug Supply Reduction, Drug Demand Reduction and International Cooperation. Men and women of ANF are fully committed to protecting our compatriots from the peril at cost of risk to their own lives. The organization has sacrificed 12 of our best enforcers to this cause.

References

  1. ↑ "Control of Narcotics Substance Act, 1997" (PDF).
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