Heroin seizures
THREE major seizures of heroin in less than a week leave no room for doubt that drug traffickers are using both the land and sea routes with impunity. The Indian Coast Guard and the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) recovered 56-kg contraband from a Pakistani boat on Monday, a day after over 100 kg of heroin — concealed in a consignment of liquorice root (mulethi) from Afghanistan — was seized by the customs department at the Attari Integrated Check Post in Amritsar district. On April 21, the Gujarat ATS and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized around 260 kg of the drug after a raid near Kandla port in Kutch district. It was in Kutch again that a record 2,988-kg heroin was confiscated by the DRI at the Mundra port in September last year. The National Investigation Agency filed a chargesheet against 16 traffickers in the Mundra case last month, alleging that two of them had links with Pakistan-based terror outfits. The probe underscored the grave threat posed by narco terrorism for undertaking anti-India activities.
The Taliban takeover has rendered Afghanistan vulnerable to being exploited by international drug syndicates, even as the consignments are being routed frequently through Pakistan and Iran. India finds itself at the confluence of the Golden Crescent (comprising illicit opium production areas in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan) and the Golden Triangle (covering Myanmar, Thailand and Laos). According to the World Drug Report, about 40 per cent of the heroin seized in India in 2019 came from South-West Asia. India needs to build pressure on the governments of these countries to jointly crack down on the illicit drug trade.
In a reply to the Lok Sabha in July last year, the government claimed that ‘sharp vigil, effective surveillance, public cooperation and source-based intelligence have resulted in gradual increase in the registration of drug trafficking-related cases in the country.’ However, the fact remains that the drug lords are incessantly looking for loopholes or lapses to push contraband into India. Greater surveillance and coordination between the security agencies can deter the cartels and minimise chances of hazardous drugs making their way into the country.
