Operation Toofan to trace drug money through UPI, crypto wallets

Three months after the formal launch of the anti-drug enforcement drive, the Keralam government has framed guidelines for Operation Toofan, which has already achieved considerable success in the State.

Besides cracking down on drug rackets, the Kerala Police aims to trail narcotics money through bank accounts, UPI transactions and crypto wallets. Specialised teams will also target trafficking routes from the dark web to interstate rail corridors as part of the campaign.

The operational guidelines, approved by the Home Department, envisage a coordinated campaign combining intelligence-led enforcement, financial investigation, prevention, rehabilitation and community mobilisation.

The campaign was launched on June 2 with the key objective of curbing the use and distribution of narcotic drugs among school and college students, creating public awareness about drug abuse and rehabilitating drug-dependent persons through counselling and other support services.

The operational framework envisages a shift from targeting individual users to dismantling the networks behind the drug trade. Financiers, suppliers, transporters and habitual peddlers will be the primary targets, while rehabilitation pathways will be provided for those affected by substance dependence.

The campaign will seek to disrupt trafficking through coastal routes, courier and postal networks, dark-web markets, rail parcels and interstate transit corridors. Intelligence-led raids and dedicated detection teams will be deployed to identify and disrupt entire supply chains rather than merely make arrests at the retail end.

A Central Intelligence and Analytics Cell will function as the strategic “brain” of the operation. It will collate information from seizures, dark-web activity, cryptocurrency flows and confidential tip-offs and convert the data into actionable intelligence. The cell will maintain dossiers on the top 200 historically known drug offenders and 500 emerging offenders in Keralam and send weekly ‘lead packets’ to district police officials.

Call Detail Record analysis and digital forensics will be used to map the physical and digital movements of drug syndicates.

At the ground level, ‘Team Toofan’ will operate at the sub-divisional level under the direct supervision of the Sub-Divisional Police Officer. Each team will have 16 personnel divided into four specialised units for information collection, detection, investigation assisting and awareness.

The Information Collection Team will map drug-use congregation points and maintain dossiers on habitual offenders. The Detection Team will plan surprise checks and make arrests, while the Investigation Assisting Team will trace financial trails, digital evidence and network diagrams of syndicates. The Awareness Team will conduct at least 10 classes a week in schools and colleges.

The financial investigation component is intended to strike at the economic foundations of narcotics trafficking. Every commercial-quantity case will be subjected to a ‘follow the money’ investigation to identify assets acquired through the illegal trade.

Investigators will trace bank statements, UPI trails and crypto-wallets to prepare lists of illegally acquired property. The guidelines envisage action under Section 68F of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act to freeze and confiscate proceeds of crime, including land and vehicles.

The enforcement arm, ‘Toofan Strike’, will conduct large-scale interdictions and target supply-chain nodes along high-risk corridors, including the Aluva-Angamaly rail route and interstate transit points. During special drives, police will conduct intensive inspections of ambulances and other vehicles suspected of transporting contraband.

Portable fingerprint scanners and GIS-based mapping of drug hotspots will also be deployed to identify habitual offenders and high-risk locations on the spot.

The programme also incorporates a public-health approach towards substance dependence. Under ‘Toofan Care’, first-time users and persons affected by addiction will be treated as patients eligible for de-addiction support rather than being dealt with solely as criminals.