Opinion | Leveraging BIMSTEC To End Narco-Trafficking

Under Amit Shah's leadership, India's fight against narcotics is moving beyond domestic enforcement towards coordinated regional action against transnational drug syndicates.

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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.

Across South and Southeast Asia, drug-trafficking networks are exploiting porous borders, sophisticated financial channels and gaps in law-enforcement coordination. India cannot confront this threat in isolation. It 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.

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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. Under PM Narendra Modi’s leadership, India has consistently emphasised the need for a secure and prosperous Bay of Bengal region. Eight years after the institutional decision, the initiative finally culminated in the first BIMSTEC Home Ministers’ Meeting, chaired by HM Amit Shah in New Delhi. 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........

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