KOCHI: In the wake of frequent seizure of narcotic drugs from Sri Lankan boats in the Arabian Sea, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is concerned about the role and involvement of Pakistan-based drug cartels in smuggling contraband worth several million. With most of these illegal consignments headed for the island nation, the agencies are alert about the possibility of drugs reaching India via the western and eastern coasts.
Since January this year, heroin and synthetic drugs -- crystal meth (methamphetamine) and ketamin -- worth over Rs 8,000 crore have been seized from Sri Lankan/Pakistani boats by the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard. The NCB after questioning some of the arrested foreign nationals found that these drugs were to be supplied to syndicates in India, the US, Australia and European countries. Opium grown in Afghanistan is turned into chemical drugs by cartels based in Karachi and Baluchistan province of Pakistan, which are then dispatched to Pakistani and Iranian coasts from where there are smuggled out.
“The opium from Afghanistan enters Pakistan through the porous international border. Opium is processed in laboratories in Faisalabad and Lahore. From the Makran coast in Pakistan and Iranian Baluchistan, these drugs head to Sri Lanka and African countries like South Africa, Tanzania and Mozambique, which are chief shipping transit points. From there, the drugs reach the US mainland and European countries where they fetch the highest price,” an NCB officer said.
“Both western and eastern coasts of India are quite close to Sri Lanka. There is a real possibility of drugs landing in Sri Lanka reaching India as well. Our fishermen venture close to the Sri Lankan coast and their fishing boats also reach close to our shores,” the NCB officer said.