India has secured the return of fugitive drug kingpin Virender Singh Basoya from the United Arab Emirates, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced on Friday, describing the development as a “new milestone” in the government’s fight against narcotics.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) brought Basoya back from the UAE, where he had been accused of operating an international drug syndicate.
Amit Shah hails NCB action
Announcing the development in a post on X, Shah said Indian agencies were continuing to track down drug traffickers who had fled abroad.
“Modi govt is relentlessly tracking down drug traffickers hiding abroad and destroying their entire ecosystem with a ruthless approach."
Calling Basoya’s return a “new milestone” in the government’s “zero-tolerance policy towards narcotics”, Shah said agencies had used a comprehensive approach to trace the fugitive.
“By tracing the criminal through a top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top approach, our agencies have once again proven that no matter where drug traffickers hide, they cannot escape the long arm of Indian law," he said.
Basoya has been accused of masterminding an international drug syndicate.
Centre’s three-year plan against drugs
The development comes as the Centre steps up efforts to target drug trafficking networks and the wider narcotics ecosystem.
In June this year, Shah unveiled the Vision Document on Drug Control (2026-2029) along with the Narcotics Control Bureau Annual Report-2025. The documents were released as part of a three-year national plan aimed at dismantling drug trafficking networks.
Shah said the government would target the entire narcotics ecosystem and act against it with such force that “it will not be able to recover for decades.”
More than 40 ministries and departments are part of the plan, which focuses on enforcement, intelligence, prevention and rehabilitation.
The Centre is also examining gaps in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and reviewing the classification of precursor chemicals and psychotropic substances used in drug production.
NCB’s ‘Operation Global-Hunt’
Basoya’s return follows another major operation by the NCB earlier this year.
In April, the agency secured the deportation of alleged global drug kingpin Mohammad Salim Dola, 59, from Turkey under ‘Operation Global-Hunt’.
Dola, who was linked to the Dawood Ibrahim syndicate, was detained by Turkish agencies in Beylikduzu before being deported to India on April 28, 2026. The NCB took him into custody after his arrival at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.