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Spotlight
New Delhi, 21 March 2007
PRODUCTION &
TRAFFICKING OF NARCOTICS
NEW DELHI, March 22 (INFA): Illicit
cultivation of cannabis plants in India is increasingly becoming a
major problem in addition to trafficking in and abuse of opiates and pharmaceutical
preparations.
According to the International Narcotics Control Board, in
2004 for which the detailed figures are officially available, over 46 tonnes of
cannabis herb were seized in the North-East, accounting for over one-third of
the country’s total volume of 144 tonnes of the seized herb.
Despite stringent measures taken by the Government of India
against the diversion of illicitly cultivated opium, some opium and poppy husk
continue to be diverted to illicit markets in India.
Crude heroin manufactured from such diverted opium is
trafficked and sold in illicit markets in India or is smuggled into other
countries.
Domestically manufactured heroin continues to be seized in India. Most of
the illicit heroin laboratories dismantled in the country are near opium poppy
cultivation areas.
In addition to low-grade heroin manufactured using opium
diverted from licit sources, heroin from South West-Asia continues to be
smuggled into India
and passes through the country on
its way to other countries.
Heroin in small quantities entering some north-eastern
States of India from South-East Asia is mainly
abused locally in those States.
Evidence suggests that Punjab has been emerging as a new hub
for smuggling drugs into India,
the traditional trafficking hubs being New
Delhi and Mumbai.
This recent development appears to be connected with the
increase in the illicit cross-border
flow of goods and persons between India
and Pakistan. Most of the drugs, particularly heroin, that
are smuggled into India through
Punjab are subsequently taken to New
Delhi or Mumbai before being transported further to
other countries.
The border between India
and Nepal remains porous,
and smuggling between the two countries, in particular the smuggling of
cannabis from Nepal into India,
continues.
Seizure trends show significant increases in the smuggling
of heroin into Maldives
in recent years, though it remains at a low level. Nevertheless, it is a source of concern that seizures made by
the authorities of Maldives
remain small compared with the seizures made by Indian and Sri Lankan
authorities of heroin destined for Maldives.
Most seizers in Maldives in 2005 occurred at that
country’s airport, despite the fact that most drug addicts and law enforcement
officials consider the country’s seaports to be the main entry points for
trafficked drugs. ---INFA
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