New Delhi: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) last week seized 3,000 kg of almost pure heroin, weighing more than 21,000 kg, from Gujarat’s Mundra port. It is being hailed as its ‘biggest catch’ to date. Contraband is estimated to cost about Rs 7 crore per kilogram on international streets. It had come from Bandar Abbas Port in Iran under the label ‘semi-processed talc stones’. In July, the Delhi Police’s Special Cell recovered 354 kilograms of heroin from a house in Faridabad, worth over Rs 2,500 crore. Recent hauls have raised concerns about the amount of drugs being imported or circulating in India, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah has mentioned it as ‘ narco-terrorism ‘. Several recent cases of drug smuggling have been reported in India, as it examines how the drugs are brought into the country, distributed across states, and sold.
India’s drug system
As per Narcotics Control Bureau data accessed by ThePrint, law enforcement agencies seized 3,040 kg heroin, 4,30,264 kg poppy straw, 3,35,052 kg ganja, and 215 kg of acetic anhydride between January and July 2021. Other drugs found in the haul include opium, morphine, hashish, ketamine, cocaine, methaqualone, ephedrine, and cough syrups containing codeine. According to a source in the NCB, ‘We cannot say for certain if drug consumption has increased, but the NCB has detected and seized more drugs in recent years’. Majority of Indians consume heroin and it is the most in-demand contraband according to various agencies (Customs, DRI, and police). In India, ganja, heroin, cocaine, MDMA (also known as ecstasy) and other prescription drugs have markets.
One of the biggest hubs for opium cultivation is Afghanistan’s Helmand province. The drug heroin is made up of morphine, which is taken from seed pods grown throughout south-eastern and west-central Asia, Mexico, and Colombia. In contrast, coca leaves are the source of cocaine. Cocaine and heroin can both be injected, snorted, or smoked. Cannabis trichomes are collected and compressed to produce hashish. MDMA (also known as ecstasy), amphetamines, and mephedrone (also known as meow meow) are synthetic party drugs popular in rave parties in India. Similar to heroin and cocaine, these drugs are usually taken as tablets or snorted as powders.
How the contraband is brought in
Most of the drugs come from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Myanmar. ‘The routes change, but the model remains the same,’ adds a second source at the NCB. Drugs are transported into the country by land, sea, and air, according to Customs, the DRI, and the NCB. ‘The Pakistani border is flooded with gunny bags containing drugs. But border security and checking have increased over the years, causing smugglers to incur massive losses, and the land route has suffered,’ said a second NCB source. As smugglers are becoming increasingly adept and technology-savvy, they are using drones to make it easier for them to cross land borders with small packages of drugs. According to a senior Delhi Police officer, most transactions are done on the dark web. Smugglers use innovative techniques to smuggle drugs as they cross the air.
A Customs officer from Air Customs told that there have been instances in which people have consumed drugs in tablet form and flown into the country. Narcotics are later ejected or extracted from their bodies through surgery. Drugs may be stitched into luggage or sealed into clothing, gadgets, and other items. A DRI source stated that ‘in one instance, smugglers had put ephedrine pills into wedding cards. The catch was worth more than Rs 5 crore’. However, sources said the sea route is the easiest way for smugglers to bring in high quantities of narcotics into the country. In recent months, seizures have been made at Mundra and Nhava Sheva in Maharashtra.
Delhi Police officer quoted above told that heroin is frequently concealed in legitimate exports like talc stones, gypsum powder, basil seeds, and packaged in gunny bags and cartons – and then smuggled across borders. During the Covid lockdown earlier this year, restrictions on international flights and other movements had affected smugglers. During the Covid-induced lockdown, drugs were less likely to be smuggled into the country. Flights were suspended and the country was shut down. An NCB source said massive quantities couldn’t be imported. As soon as the drugs enter the country undetected, they are taken to improvised factories in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, and other states for extraction.
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The kingpins of entire cartels are difficult to trace since most people involved are unemployed youth, who have little to no knowledge of the entire operation even if they are arrested. In the past, the drugs were distributed in stolen cars. According to the Delhi Police officer, they frequently don’t know the exact chain of command because they use second-hand cars and can communicate very little with each other. Addicts may also commit other petty crimes as a result of the drug trade, which may get worse over time. Officials quoted above concurred that addicts either work as peddlers or distributors themselves in order to support their addictions.
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