NCB Records 92 Drug Trafficking Cases Involving Cryptocurrency in 5 Years: MHA Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs of India said that a special task force has been constituted to monitor suspicious transactions

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has registered 92 cases related to the use of darknet and cryptocurrency in drug trafficking in the last five years, Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs of India said.
Replying to a written question in Rajya Sabha, Rai said, "Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has booked 92 cases involving Dark net and Crypto-currencies whereas 1025 cases involving parcel and couriers have been reported by all Drug Law Enforcement Agencies during the years 2020-2024 (till April)."

According to the minister, the bureau registered three cases in 2020, 49 in 2021, eight in 2022, 21 in 2023 and 11 till April this year.

He said that a special task force has been constituted to monitor suspicious transactions.

"NCB in association with other departments has developed a core module and five training modules. Training programmes on Digital Forensics, Darknet, and Cryptocurrency are also being organized," the minister added.

This comes days after cryptocurrency transaction platform WazirX experienced breach in one of its multisig wallets, with over USD 230M user money being siphoned.

Later, Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth hinted that India planned to come out with a discussion paper on cryptocurrency to outline its policy stance before September.

"In India, it (cryptocurrencies) is being regulated from the perspective of AML and EFT alone. Regulation starts and ends there, it cannot be beyond that, so should the remit be more? What should be the policy stance? All that will come out in the discussion paper," Seth was quoted as saying.

Amid the unfortunate incident, the move was welcomed by the industry players.

"We are delighted by this development. Indian web3 businesses, especially the FIU registered entities, are eager to give their inputs, insights and suggestions for this discussion paper. With global regulations shaping up like MICA in Europe, we hope that this discussion paper will become a kick starter towards building cryto regulatory framework very soon," Vikram Subburaj, CEO, Giottus Crypto Platform said.

Meanwhile, Edul Patel, CEO, Mudrex termed it as a significant step forward for the industry and said, "By seeking inputs from various stakeholders can potentially create a balanced regulatory framework. Currently, India's focus on cryptocurrencies revolves around AML and CTF measures, but a broader remit is definitely needed to expand the scope to include consumer protection, market integrity, and innovation that can ensure responsible growth. The inclusion of RBI and SEBI in the inter-ministerial group signals a collaborative effort, balancing innovation with risk mitigation."