India may witness surge in narcotics trade

By Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 21. Indigenous production, procurement and trafficking of drugs in India is expected to witness a surge in the wake of the ongoing developments in Pakistan and Afghanistan. With the existing supply lines expected to dry up in the near future, officials of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) here are bracing themselves up for a spurt in drug activity.

Talking to The Hindu, the Director of NCB, Mr. Abrar Ahmed, said with vigil being stepped up along the borders and the threat of armed conflict looming large in the region, smuggling of drugs from the Golden Crescent area, which encompassed Pakistan and Afghanistan, was likely to be badly hit.

Since India is also a victim of narco-terrorism, which is aided and abetted by its western neighbour, the officials also expect a drop in the supply of arms and explosives in the country.

However, with the supply of the narcotic substances falling, the local drug dealers are expected to move in. ``We suspect that local production of drugs would increase and the areas to watch out for are Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh''.

He said special watch would also be kept to check pilferage of drugs which is available through the legal channel for medicinal and other purposes.

An area of concern now for the persons involved in the fight against drugs is of finding ways and means for checking large scale mixing of ``cut'', which can prove lethal for the consumers.

In major detections in the recent past, the drug dealers have been found to be adding impurities to pure drugs before selling them.

``Cut is basically a mixture of `multani mitti', seeds of the `dhatura' plant, and some chemicals which gives an extra kick in the drug''.

While the ``cut'' does take drug-users to a ``high'', it increases the risk of death.

With the supply of pure drugs expected to be adversely hit in the days to come, the officials are wary that impurities in supplies may take a heavy toll of the drug abusers.

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