Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Friday chaired a high-level meeting of police chiefs from southern states and senior officials of central enforcement agencies to strengthen inter-state coordination under Operation Toofan, the state's anti-drug trafficking initiative.

Held at the Kerala Police Headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, the meeting focused on enhancing cooperation to curb drug trafficking and organised cross-border crime. Senior police officials from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and the Union Territory of Puducherry participated in the discussions.

As part of the initiative, Kerala, the four participating states and Puducherry will each appoint a nodal officer of Superintendent of Police (SP) rank or above to coordinate anti-narcotics operations. Central agencies, including the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Customs and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), will also designate special nodal officers to facilitate coordination.

The participating states and central agencies agreed to strengthen intelligence-sharing on drug trafficking syndicates, their hideouts and movements. The Directors General of Police (DGPs) will also maintain regular communication to ensure coordinated action against interstate narcotics networks.

The meeting also decided to intensify surveillance and inspections at airports, railway stations and interstate border checkpoints. Authorities will additionally monitor courier services and online food delivery platforms to prevent their misuse for transporting narcotic substances.

Another proposal discussed was the adoption of Telangana's practice of obtaining an affidavit from students during college admissions declaring that they will not use narcotic substances. The Kerala government will hold discussions with the General Education and Higher Education departments on implementing a similar measure in the state.

North Zone Inspector General of Police and Operation Toofan Nodal Officer Putta Vimaladitya presented the objectives of the initiative, its operational strategy and the coordination framework among participating agencies.

Among those who attended the meeting were Tamil Nadu DGP Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal, Puducherry DGP Shalini Singh, Karnataka Additional DGP (Law and Order) R Hithendra, Kerala-Lakshadweep Customs Preventive Commissioner Dr T Tiju, Narcotics Control Bureau Deputy Director General R Sudhakar, Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau Joint Director Don K Jose, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence Additional Director General K Padmavathi, Telangana Anti-Narcotics Bureau SP P V Padmaja, Andhra Pradesh Elite Anti-Narcotics Group for Law Enforcement (EAGLE) SP (Operations) K M Maheshwara Raju, Railway Protection Force Divisional Security Commissioner Mohammed Hanif, and other senior officials from state police forces and central agencies.