Drugs Trade: Reading between the Reports
25 Jun, 2002 · 767
Paolienlal Haokip assesses the drugs traffic in India and suggests measures to check the menace
A hair-raising 119.3 Kgs of high quality heroin worth Rs.120 crores (US $ 25 million) in the international market, 6885.4 Kgs of Ganja worth Rs. 275.5 lakhs, 111.8 Kgs of Charas, 12 Kgs of opium and a packet of Brown Sugar have reportedly been seized in the past two months (April and May 2002) from various parts of the country. Huge as these figures are, seizures constitute only the tip of the iceberg as far as the dark realm of drug-trafficking is concerned; reported seizures constitute an even smaller percentage. If these figures are taken as the bi-monthly average, it means that drugs trade in the country amounts to some Rs. 750-800 crores (US $ 156-167 million) annually. Now, if that really is the tip of the iceberg, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Police establishments across the country have a lot to ponder over.
Bihar
is another hotspot where illegal arms abound, with shoot-outs between leftist revolutionaries and rival upper-class gangs occurring every other day. The Northeast, with its chronic insurgency, is very much an armed region. The prohibitive cost of illegal and sophisticated weapons can be met through the highly profitable drugs trade. Thirdly, the ‘Indian triangle’ constitutes transit-points for international routes. Drugs seized in Chennai are mostly bound for
Sri Lanka
, routed either from
Afghanistan
or
Myanmar
. In the Northeast, drugs are in transit from
Myanmar
, (as far as heroin is concerned), to either
Bangladesh
or other parts of
India
. ganja is produced on a large scale in Manipur’s Ukhrul and Senapati districts, and most seizures are indigenous products of high quality.
Bihar
is a transit point for ganja traffic bound for
Nepal
,
Delhi
, and Mumbai.
Analysis has shown that the bulk of the seizures are from the Chennai-Bihar-Northeast ‘triangle’. The reasons are not far to seek. The geographical proximity of the ‘Indian triangle’ to the well-known Golden Triangle (Myanmar-Laos-Cambodia) is a primary factor. Secondly, there is a patent connection between arms and drug-trafficking. Most seizures in Chennai show the involvement of Sri Lankan Tamils, believed to be LTTE (Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam) delivery boys. The LTTE is known to be heavily engaged in drugs-arms barter.
The drugs trade, besides extortion, is the primary source of funds for most terrorist organizations. These organizations constitute a threat to the security of the nation; hence drug-trafficking threatens national security. An effective check on the drugs trade would certainly reduce the disruptive potential of these organizations. Other dimensions of threat from it also need to be addressed. For instance, a nation infested with drug-addicts cannot be secure. HIV-AIDS infection, which spreads through drug abuse, has reached alarming proportions in some parts of the country, and can seriously undermine health security in the country. The huge money involved in drug-trafficking can also disrupt the economy.
Fighting the Menace
Drug-trafficking, by its very nature, is more of an international than national problem. Therefore, any meaningful attempt to fight this menace should ideally involve the cooperation of nations at various levels. The SAARC Convention on Drug-Trafficking made a good beginning towards this end; unfortunately, it remains only on paper. Similar but more effective conventions at the interregional and global levels need being put into operation.
Cultivation of opium and ganja/hemp should be discouraged in more proactive ways. On the domestic front, a survey of hemp cultivators in Manipur’s hill districts of Ukhrul and Senapati reveal that acute poverty and unemployment are the primary factors prompting villagers to take up cultivation of this illicit crop. In situations like this, the methods employed for checking production, such as cutting down and burning plantations, arresting traffickers after seizure of their consignments, occasional raids on target villages, etc., are not likely to work. ‘Cut and burn’ will never really work because most plantations are deep in the mountains and to locate all the plantation sites will be difficult unless a special police unit is set up for the purpose. ‘Arrest and jail’, rare as they are, would never really deter. Raids are more formal than purposive, given the corruptibility of the police which is rampant in states like Manipur.
One key to the solution, therefore, might lie in generating alternative employment opportunities and sources of livelihood to the planters, be they Afghanistan’s opium cultivating hillmen or cultivators of hemp in the Manipur hills. For, unless the roots are pulled and dried, the plant will sprout a greater number of branches each time the stem is cut. Besides, sterner action on corrupt policemen, international cooperation and a more efficient intelligence network at the national and international levels is the bare minimum required for an effective check on drugs trade.
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