Washington: Seizures of heroin made in
various parts of India in the recent past indicate that most
of the drug transiting through the country is bound for
Europe, a US report has said.
"Most heroin transiting India appeared bound for Europe.
Seizures of Southwest Asian heroin made in New Delhi and
Mumbai tend to reinforce this assessment," the latest US
report on International Narcotics Trade released by the State
Department said.
The report, however, noted that the bulk of heroin seized
in the past two years has been of domestic origin, was seized
in South India, and was apparently destined for Sri Lanka.
According to the report trafficking groups operating in
India fall into four categories.
Most seizures in Mumbai and New Delhi involve West
African traffickers. Traffickers who maintain familial and
tribal ties to Pakistan and Afghanistan are responsible for
most of the smuggling of heroin from the two countries into
India.
Ethnic Tamil traffickers, centred primarily in southern
India, are alleged to be involved in trafficking between India
and Sri Lanka.
Indigenous tribal groups in the northeastern states
adjacent to Burma maintain ties to Burmese trafficking
organisations and facilitate the entry into Burma of precursor
chemicals and into India of refined "white sugar" heroin
through the porous Indo-Burma border.
In addition, insurgent groups in these states have
utilised drug trafficking as a means to finance their
operations against the Indian Government, it said.
Indian-produced methaqualone `Mandrax` trafficking to
Southern and Eastern Africa continues.
Although South Africa has increased methaqualone
production, India is still believed to be among the world`s
largest known clandestine methaqualone producers.
Seizures of methaqualone, which is trafficked in both
pill and bulk forms, have varied widely, from 472 kilogrammes
in 2005 and 4,521 kilogrammes in 2006, one kilogram in 2007
and as of September 2008, 2,361 kilogrammes has been seized.
Cannabis smuggled from Nepal is mainly consumed within
India, but some makes its way to Western destinations.
India is also increasingly emerging as a manufacturer and
supplier of licit opiate/psychotropic pharmaceuticals (LOPPS),
both organic and synthetic, to the Middle East, Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Some of the LOPPS are licitly manufactured and then
diverted, often in bulk, it said, adding some are illicitly
manufactured as well.
Though the US has a close and cooperative relationship
with India on counter-narcotics issues, the report said that
New Delhi is not co-operating with it in the case of
extraditions.
"The United States and India are parties to extradition
and mutual legal assistance treaties (MLAT), but
implementation by the GOI of both treaties continues to suffer
from delays based on lack of GOI initiative and lack of
communication by GOI authorities regarding the status of
implementation of USG requests," it said.
"Implementation of the MLAT has also suffered due to the
refusal of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Indian Central
Authority to use electronic communication technology to
communicate with the US Department of Justice, its US
counterpart," it said.
Implementation of the extradition treaty has likewise
suffered because of a failure of the Ministry of External
Affairs to communicate directly with US Department of Justice
and to effectively supervise attorneys representing
governments in the extradition proceedings in India, the
report added.
PTI
