RAWALPINDI, Sept 12: Pakistan and India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday to control the cross-border drug trafficking.

The 11-member Indian Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) delegation led by its Director General O P S Malik held an extensive meeting with the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) team led by its Director General Major General Syed Shakeel Hussain prior to signing the first-ever MoU with Pakistan to stop the cross-border narcotics trafficking.

The Indian delegation was concerned over the drug smuggling from Pakistan and sought its reduction in the coming days.

The delegation, on the occasion, lauded Pakistan's efforts in significantly reducing poppy cultivation.

“There must be coordinated efforts from both the sides to check the drug trafficking.

The menace of drugs must come to an end in the Subcontinent and it is possible if India and Pakistan make coordinated efforts to stop the cross-border traffic,” DG NCB O P S Malik told the meeting.

Director General ANF Maj Gen Syed Shakeel Hussain, on the occasion, informed the Indian delegation that the poppy cultivation in the tribal areas of the country had come an end due to the military operation.