Lethal convergence of narco-traffickers and narco-terrorists on Indian borders

India’s Western border from Jammu Kashmir all the way down South covering Lakshadweep and Kerala is seeing a sweeping change in military strategy being employed by Pakistan and their terror recruits. Just as Methamphetamine became a critical part of Nazi military strategy, Pakistan and its allies are inducting white Heroin powder as a key element to gain a military edge over India. If little Amphetamine pills embodied the confidence boosting “Germany awake” war rhetoric, Pakistan and its allies are trying to inflict a ‘Heroin punch’ on India in multifarious ways.

If Medical historian Peter Steinkamp observed that the German Blitzkrieg was guided by Methamphetamine, Pakistanis may be contemplatingto lull India into Heroin inducedescapist pleasure, before striking. The Blitzkrieg that pulverized Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium and France, astonished Sir Winston Churchill, who admitted in his memoirs that “I was dumbfounded,I had never expected to have to face…the overrunning of the whole communications and countryside by an irresistible incursion of armoured vehicles…I admit it was one of the greatest surprises I have had in my life.” 

But this is definitely not the time for India to get surprisedby the alignment of Heroin drug traffickers and terrorism, being coordinated by Pakistan and its allies. The miscalculations and missed opportunities in legislating and declaring ‘Drug Trafficking and Terrorism’ as Public Enemy No.1 of India, needs to be corrected immediately. This will gives the trafficker the permanent tag of an ‘internal enemy’, radically distinct from other actors in the drug trade chain, especially from the consumer.

A clandestine war is being waged on the population of India, by fundamentalists who want to tear the country to shreds. They want to weaponize Heroin, permeate it into every aspect of society, and thereby enslave children, students and adults. A collective, unstoppable mass addiction, just as what gripped the Chinese before the humiliating Opium Wars, is what is being planned for India.

The seizure figures speak volumes.Since April 2021, DRI has seized more than 3,800 kg of heroin valued at approximately Rs. 26,000 crores in the international illicit market, including seizure of 3000 kg Heroin at Mundra in September 2021, 293 kg Heroin at Nhava Sheva Port in July 2021, 34 kg Heroin at Tughlaquabad, New Delhi in February 2022, apart from the multiple seizures of Heroin from air passengers.

In addition, more than 350 kg of cocaine valued at approximately Rs. 3,500 crores in the international illicit market was seized by the DRI during this period, including the largest haul of 303 kg Cocaine from a container at Tuticorin port in April 2021. ICG recovered about 3 tons of narcotics worth approx. Rs. 6,200 Crores in different operations in the past 3 years bringing the total drug haul till date to Rs. 12,206 crores. 

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) seized 1,975.8 kg of drugs since 2019, out of which 423.29 kg of heroin were seized in 2022, worth Rs 2,216.47crores.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in February 2022 seized about 800 kg of drugs, worth Rs 2,000 crore, from a vessel in the Arabian Sea off the Gujarat coast in a joint operation with the Navy. The seizure included over 529 kg of high-quality Hashish, 234 kg of finest quality of Crystal Methamphetamine and 15 kg of Heroin.

For the BSF it was drones coming from Pakistan to deliver narcotics, weapons, explosives and ammunition. From January 2022, around 254 drones were sighted of which 22 were shot down by BSF. Around 311 drones were spotted in 2022 across the entire western border — Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. Around 75% of sightings were in Punjab. The BSF also seized 317 kg of heroin, 67 weapons and 850 rounds. Two Pakistani intruders were killed and 23 Pakistani nationals were apprehended in different incidents.

Examine the grave scenario on the borders, every border agency, para-military force, and intelligence agency is engaged 24X7, in counter-narcotics operations.Conducting anti-narcotic operations is not their core function. Their training, border management preparedness, skills and strike capability are not for stemming the deluge of Heroin.

The political and economic dimensions of the drug-trafficking industry, the unabated drug law enforcement activities,the intertwined dynamics of the drug industry and law enforcement practices, the political-economy in which it is forming and taking shape,the intended and unintended -consequences in terms of the distribution of power, wealth and security in both the domestic and the international realm, will lead to detrimental consequences.

These developments have also brought about disintegrative forces, which, combined with new technological capabilities, offer unprecedented opportunities for the expansion of transnational criminal enterprises, as also lead to a conflagration between these two nuclear power countries. After Opium Wars is it time for Heroin Wars?

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are of the author, and are not associated with DNA English.