Drug trade has never really been alien to this country, but if recent reports are an indicator, India is turning into a drug haven, especially for West Afri- can and European traffickers.
They use internet based couriers to smuggle contraband
NEW DELHI: Drug trade has never really been alien to this country, but if recent reports are an indicator, India is turning into a drug haven, especially for West Afri- can and European traffickers.
With time, the mode of trafficking narcotics and psychotropic substances in and through the country has changed. The latest trend shows that not only are substance abusers increasingly opting for pharmaceutical drugs, but traffickers are also using private courier services and their online procurement as options for smuggling the contraband items in and out of India.
The latest report of the United Nation’s International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) released here recently reveals, “Internationally controlled pharmaceutical preparations manufactured locally in India are increasingly being diverted to some European countries and the United States.”
The report states, “Each year, the US Customs and Border Protection intercepts thousands of illegal parcels containing pharmaceutical preparations marked ‘for personal use’. Most of those pharmaceutical preparations appear to have been sold illegally over the internet.”
The Narcotics Control Bureau of India (NCB) has been trying to establish a dialogue with courier service providers to tackle the growing menace of drug trafficking through India. In July 2007, NCB stopped two parcels containing more than 1kg of heroin each in a courier office in New Delhi. The parcels were destined for Canada and South Africa, said KC Verma, director general, NCB.
Verma says that in most cases where seizures have been made from courier consignments, it’s usually the courier agents who have alerted the enforcement officers. However, Verma agrees that couriers being used for drug trafficking have become increasingly common. Most of these orders are placed through online pharmacies, which have mushroomed in India in recent years.
According to Gary Lewis, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) representative in South Asia, “misuse of internet for advertising, selling and promoting drugs has assumed alarming proportions in India.” The INCB has noted that drug trafficking cartels, mostly involving West African groups are using India as a major transit point for Europe-bound drug consignments and also as a destination country.
The report also highlights the trickling of heroin and heroin-related drugs into India from Afghanistan via Pakistan. Verma said, “The production of opium poppy has increased from 4,100 tons in 2005 to 8,100 tons in 2007 in Afghanistan. This amounts to nearly 90% of world’s illicit opium poppy production. The drug mafia operating from Afghanistan is using this enormous amount present locally to fuel the demand in the world through neighbouring countries like India.”
Interestingly, INCB officials believe that raw materials like acetic anhydrate, which is essential in preparation of heroin is smuggled into Afghanistan from India. In fact, the Delhi police has recently arrested two Afghans of Indian origin with 200 litres of acetic anhydrate.
y_puneet@dnaindia.net
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}