In a major crackdown, the Delhi Police has frozen properties worth Rs 21.5 crore belonging to alleged drug traffickers and narcotics dealers in the first nine months of 2025—more than four times the amount seized during all of last year, official data shows.
These assets, linked to 30 accused individuals, include luxury vehicles, land parcels, apartments, and farmhouses. In comparison, assets worth Rs 5 crore were seized from 19 drug offenders in 2024, while assets worth Rs 38 lakh were frozen from three drug individuals in 2023.
In addition to physical assets such as luxury vehicles, land, apartments and farmhouses, the police have traced money transfers,bank accounts and digital wallets to disrupt the cash flow of drug networks.
Authorities leveraged the National Integrated Database on Arrested Narco Offenders (NIDAAN), the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND), and the Inter-Operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) along with other digital platforms to correlate case data, financial records, and communication trails, officers said.
“Earlier, the arrest of one trafficker often led to another, filling the gap. Now, with the seizure and freezing of financial assets, the entire chain of operations is weakened. Our approach has shifted from individual-centric policing to network-centric policing, thereby dismantling cartels rather than just arresting carriers,” said Special CP (Crime) Devesh Chandra Srivastva.
The Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) of the Crime Branch played a central role in the crackdown, accounting for Rs 17.5 crore of the total assets frozen.
Plans are underway to establish specialized teams within the ANTF focused solely on financial investigations, Srivastva said. “Training is also provided to officers in forensic accounting, cyber-financial investigations, and cryptocurrency tracing,” he added.
