NEW DELHI: Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has declared the awards for Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence (Kendriya Grihmantri Dakshata Padak) for 2024.
The said medal is awarded for excellence and outstanding performances in identified operational and investigative areas among officers of central organisations administrated by the MHA and state and Union Territory police forces.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is boasting of an excellent performance with 14 officers getting the honour this year and nine for undertaking Special Operations and five for their investigating skills.
Of these, nine officers of the NCB received Special Operations Medal for their duty in the Operation Sagarmanthan-1, very ambitious operation executed during February 2024.
That operation, led jointly by the Indian Navy and the Gujarat Police, ensured to confiscate 3,272 kg of narcotics-like charas, heroin and methamphetamine from an Iranian fishing boat anchored off Porbandar coast.
The officers to be rewarded include Gyaneshwar Singh, DDG (OEC); SD Jambotkar, Additional Director OPS; Sagar Pratap Kaushik, Assistant Director OPS; Inspectors Sandeep and Yogendra Singh; Sub-Inspector Pratham Rathee; Assistant Mohit Kumar; Senior Assistant Navnit Kumar; and Constable Akhil Remesh, for excellent planning and execution of the operation.
Inspector Chetan Sharma and inspector Sachin Kumar of NCB Delhi Zonal Unit received an outstanding investigation medal on the case of one of the largest dark net vendors from India, known as Zambada Cartel. It was an extremely sophisticated case that demanded expertise for decryption of Wickr Me, Session, and Jabber Apps in addition to cryptocurrency transactions of cartel members, which came to conclusion as India’s biggest seizure of LSD blots that consisted of a total number of 29,013.
Additionally, Superintendent (Ops) Aravind M. R. of the NCB Headquarters was awarded a medal for his leadership in
dismantling an international syndicate of pseudoephedrine trafficking throughout Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and India, which earned admiration from globally recognised agencies that include UN Office on Drugs and Crime, International Narcotics Control Board, as well as U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
The Dakshata Padak for excellence in investigation was bestowed upon Sub-Inspector Murari Lal of NCB Bangalore, who had unearthed the cocaine trafficking ring that included foreign nationals within India, and Inspector Akshay Hunurkar of NCB Chennai
whose investigation busted an international network of drug trafficking operating from India to Sri Lanka over the Palk Strait.