Chennai, Oct 19 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said that the eradication of drugs requires unified efforts and cannot be achieved by any single state.

The Chief Minister, while addressing the southern states' police coordination meet held at Guindy in Chennai on Saturday, mentioned that the southern states are working together on issues such as law and order, water management, and security.

He pointed out that the main focus was to tackle issues like drugs, cybercrime, banned tobacco products, and interstate crimes.

He also said that Tamil Nadu has made significant progress in dealing with these types of crimes and added that the state police are taking stringent measures against drug syndicates and sellers in the state.

The Chief Minister stated that those who sell ganja and other drugs are being arrested and jailed, and their properties are also being confiscated.

It may be recalled that the Tamil Nadu coastal police have cracked down on some international drug networks, leading to the arrest of certain former operatives of the banned Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The top intelligence operative of LTTE, Sabesan, was arrested in October 2021 as the main conduit of a huge drug network operated by the Haji Ali network of Pakistan, in collaboration with former LTTE operatives.

The Tamil Nadu Police have also collaborated with the Kerala Police to crack down on the ganja network in the Idukki district of Kerala, which supplies drugs to Tamil Nadu.

The southern police network was instrumental in dismantling major ganja plantations in the Naxal-dominated districts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

During his address at the Southern Police Officers' Conference, Chief Minister Stalin called upon the forces to maintain regular communication with each other to curb interstate gang movements, citing the recent arrests of certain gang leaders from Tamil Nadu in Andhra Pradesh.

Senior police officers from Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry participated in the southern states' police coordination conference, which aimed to tackle interstate crimes.

/IANS