The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the government to suggest ways of storing seized narcotics safely, eliminating the chances of their pilferage or recirculation in the market.

A bench of Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice Kurian Joseph asked Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar to place before the court the steps that can be taken for the "storage and safe custody of (seized narcotics) so that it does not get recirculated (in the market) and for its eventual destruction".

The court wanted the entire process from the seizure of narcotics to its destruction to be secure.

The court said this as senior counsel Ajit Kumar Sinha, the amicus curiae in the matter, told the court that a fifth of the seized contraband get back to the market.

Because of this, people in Punjab were getting addicted to drugs.

The court said the person entrusted with the storage and custody of seized narcotics "must be reliable and credible".

The solicitor general gave several suggestions to the court for making the storage and custody of the seized contraband safe and putting the storage place under CCTV surveillance. 

The government said several agencies were involved in drug seizures.

It said the SSB and Coast Guard have no especially assigned storage place, and seized contraband were handed over to Narcotic Control Bureau, Customs and police.

With IANS