The Kerala government on Saturday issued an order launching the State Narcotics Control Bureau (State NCB) under the Excise department to tackle drugs-related crime. The State NCB has been set up as part of modernising the Excise department’s functioning along with investigating and preventing organised Abkari and narcotic offences in the State more effectively.
This will make anti-narcotics enforcement activities more efficient since at present the Excise department is burdened with tax-related affairs also along with enforcement, according to the government order. As per the order, the headquarters of the State NCB will function from the Excise Commissionerate in Thiruvananthapuram, with the Excise Commissioner holding full charge as its head.
The Additional Excise Commissioner (Administration), Administrative Officer, and Finance Officer of the Excise Commissionerate will also hold the corresponding additional charges in the State NCB. Instead of creating new posts for the bureau, existing officers will be redeployed. For this, 367 posts have been redeployed and additional responsibilities have been given to those in 22 posts, taking the total sanctioned strength to 389. Officers from the excise special squads, including the State Enforcement Squad, will be mainly deployed for this.
The State NCB will have specialised wings for operations, intelligence, research and analysis, and cyber intelligence and cyber operations at the headquarters. The cyber intelligence and cyber operations wing will focus on cyber-enabled narcotics investigations. Those who are proficient in advanced technologies such as cybersecurity, ethical hacking, digital forensics, data analytics, and artificial intelligence will be included in different sections. In addition, special squads will be formed by including IT experts.
As per the order, the operations wing will be headed by the Joint Excise Commissioner (Awareness Programme Coordination) as Joint Director, while the intelligence wing will be headed by the Joint Excise Commissioner (Intelligence Bureau). The research and analysis wing will be headed by the Joint Excise Commissioner of the Excise Crime Records Bureau.
The Excise Commissioner has also been authorised to constitute a cyber volunteer team. District-level operations and intelligence units of the State NCB will be established across Kerala by redeploying personnel from the existing Excise Enforcement and Anti-Narcotic Special Squads and Intelligence units. Assistant Excise Commissioners in each district will hold additional charge as Assistant Directors (Operations) of the State NCB.
The government has directed the Excise Commissioner to complete the redeployment of personnel and operationalise the State NCB immediately. The new system in the State will also work on the model of the national Narcotics Control Bureau.
Published - July 18, 2026 09:13 pm IST