COMBATING DRUG TRAFFICKING

Drug abuse is no longer a matter of exclusive concern for western
countries; it also poses a serious threat to producing and transit
countries like Pakistan. This can be gauged from the number of heroin
addicts. Out of a total number of 8 million the world over, about 1.5
million are in Pakistan and the number is growing.

Iran, even with stricter punishments and better law enforcement, faces
similar constraints in tackling the drug problem.

Most of the opium and heroin produced in Afghanistan finds its way mostly
to Europe and North America through old and new trafficking routes.

Some 80% of heroin seizures in Western Europe alone originate from
Southwest Asia in which Afghanistan has a major share.

Close to home, Pakistan and Iran remain captive markets for the illicit
drugs of Afghanistan. Pakistan has emerged as a large consumer country with
1.5 million heroin addicts.

It is much easier for Afghan and Pakistani drug traffickers to push their
dangerous products to Pakistan.

In the meantime, Pakistan has also assumed the dubious distinction of being
a major transit country for illicit drugs.

Most of the heroin is processed in Afghanistan and is smuggled out of
Pakistan through three routes. Karachi is the traditional outlet for
international traffickers. The illicit drugs travel through the vast
expanses of Punjab and Sindh in the presence of hundreds of check-posts and
under the eyes of scores of law enforcement agencies.

Karachi has become the hub of the drug trade.

The Mekran coast of Balochistan is the second important route.

The presence of law enforcing agencies along this shore is limited and the
Arabian Sea offers vast space for the traffickers to ship drugs by small
fishing boats and then on to big vessels waiting in the open waters.

The Balochistan-Iran border serves as an important route for smuggling into
Turkey and from there to Europe.

According to a US report, approximately 17% of the heroin seized in the US
in 1995-96 originated in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Smugglers of all types
of goods from and to Pakistan frequently use the border with India. Acetic
anhydride, a catalyzing chemical used to convert opium into heroin, is
manufactured in India and smuggled into Pakistan for onward use in
Afghanistan. In recent years, the consignment of heroin and other illegal
substances have started to get into India for local use and further
trafficking into Europe.

A large group of traffickers from different countries operates in the
Afghanistan-Iran-Pakistan triangle.

The ANF record shows that in 1997 alone, among the 5,555 defendants
arrested for drug trafficking, 206 were foreigners from 38 countries.

With 71 defendants, Afghanistan topped the list, followed by Tanzania 31,
and Nigeria, 25. There were 9 from Britain and 7 from Tanzania. In terms of
region, Africa ranked number one with 79 persons from 12 countries.

This trend has continued through 1999-2000. Among the Africans, the
Nigerian traffickers form the largest group now, leaving the Tanzanians in
second position.

Many of those arrested are carriers that take the contraband to the
international market for a relatively small payment.

Poverty in the African countries drives a lot of men and women into the
risky business of drug trafficking. Most of the drug trafficking is done by
the more powerful and well-connected members of the international mafia in
connivance with the influential drug lords of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistanis perhaps carry the largest quantities of drugs into the Gulf
states, Saudi Arabia, and the western countries.

Iran constitutes an equally important element of the Golden Crescent
triangle along with Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Islamic government in
Iran has applied harsh punishment to drug traffickers, frequently executing
them. Through different measures, it has been able to bring down the addict
population from half a million in 1993 to 1.2 million in 1997. But it still
has a fairly large number of addicts.

It is widely reported that the Iranian borders with Afghanistan have become
a safe haven for drug traffickers. In most cases, Turkey is the next
destination from where it enters Europe. Quite often, the Afghan
traffickers have fought with the Iranian security forces.

Tehran has deployed some 30,000 troops on drug patrol along the borders
with Afghanistan and Pakistan and spends around $400 million a year
combating smuggling, some of which is offset by assets confiscated from
convicted traffickers. Iran claims that the drug traffickers have killed
2,635 of its personnel from law enforcing agencies since 1983. In recent
years, the death toll of the Iranian security forces has crossed 3,000.
Iran emerged a world leader in drug seizures with the confiscation of 253
tons of narcotics in 1999.

For what Iran is doing to interdict trafficking through its territory, it
gets very little international assistance or recognition for combating drug
trafficking, mostly destined for European countries.

A few years back, it received only $2.5 million from Britain through the
UNDCP, which it used among other things to buy 1,000 bullet-proof vests and
170 sets of night-vision goggles.

France on its part donated five drug-sniffing dogs for detection.

The United States has only taken Iran out of the list of the countries that
fail to meet the international standards of drug control, but because of
estrangement has offered no tangible help.

In addition to strict border patrols, Iran has begun to address the problem
at the source, that is, drug production in Afghanistan. In May 2000, the
Iranian Parliament decided to fence the 940 km border with Afghanistan. But
more important are the economic and political steps it seems willing to
take to further reduce the flow of drugs from that country.

Despite serious differences on political matters with the Taliban regime,
Tehran has held talks with its leaders on the drug control issue.

It has promised economic assistance to poppy growers in the Afghan province
of Helmand.

The drug traffickers have found the new routes of Central Asia safer as
they face fewer restrictions on their movement.

They have taken the benefit of political transitions in the newly
independent states in the region.

The Russian mafia operates much of the drug trade in Central Asia. From
there they first take it to Russia and then transfer it to European
countries. With investment and financing from international drug cartels,
new areas of production and processing are emerging in some of the Central
Asian states. According to a report of the International Narcotics Control
Board, there is a rapid spread of illicit cultivation, trafficking and
abuse of drugs in Kazakhstan, Krygyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan and the Caucasus.

The drug trafficking problem has international dimensions and, therefore,
it requires international cooperation. Only recently, the countries in the
region have begun to cooperate.

India and Pakistan have held frequent meetings at the secretary level to
evolve a common strategy against the traffickers. India and Pakistan have
agreed to exchange information in identifying major operators, hold
periodic border meetings between the Border Security Force of India and the
Pakistan Rangers, and establish direct contact between the custom officials
of the two countries.

Pakistan has similar cooperative arrangements with Iran to interdict drug
traffickers at various points along their common border.

Islamabad, Tehran and UNDCP have been cooperating on countering drug
smuggling on the Pakistan-Iran borders under a tripartite agreement since
1994. There is a greater need for regional and international cooperation to
combat trafficking before the drug lords in this region become too powerful
to handle.