Odaily Planet Daily News: Indian Home Minister Nityanand Rai told Parliament on Wednesday that as many as 92 cases of using darknet and cryptocurrency to buy drugs have occurred in India since 2020 to April 2024. Rai's response was in response to questions raised by opposition MP Jose K. Mani about drug trafficking. One of the questions was "Has the government noticed the increasing use of technology and other online methods in domestic drug trafficking?" The Indian Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), the competent agency for drug law enforcement matters, registered three such darknet and cryptocurrency-related cases in 2020, 49 in 2021, 8 in 2022, 21 in 2023, and 11 as of April 2024. The data does not distinguish how many of the 92 cases were related only to the darknet and how many were related only to encryption in terms of transaction methods. During the same period, there were 1,025 cases involving packages or couriers. Rai also said a special task force has been set up to monitor such suspicious drug-related transactions, in addition to other preventive measures. (CoinDesk)