INDIA A MAJOR ROUTE FOR OPIUM TRADERS

NEW DELHI - The United Nations has drawn attention of world leaders to
an alarming increase in opium production in Afghanistan which has gone
up by 34% to 8,200 tonnes this year in comparison to 2006. The illicit
trade, estimated at $4 billion, is half the GDP of Afghanistan.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has suggested governments to
include major drug traffickers under the same list which has the
Taliban and Al-Qaida.

"The world community should add a dozen such traffickers names to the
Security Council list, in order to ban their travel, seize their
assets and facilitate their extradition," the UNODC said.

For India, this is alarming as there has been a sudden spurt in
trafficking of Afghan-origin heroin in the country in the last few
years, mostly controlled by African nationals. Different drug
enforcement agencies had seized around 1,000 kg of heroin in 2006
which was an all-time high leading to inclusion of its name in the
list of countries identified as main drug transit sources.

Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of UNODC, speaking at a
function in Brussels, said insurgents and warlords controlled the
business of producing and distributing drugs. Opium, in fact, has
become an important source of foreign exchange earning for the
Taliban. Reports by western security agencies suggested drug economy
resources were being used to procure arms, logistics and for paying
militia.

The UN report also warned countries in the neighbourhood against the
possibility of a proliferation of heroin labs given the major increase
in supply of Afghan opium.

Heroin labs are dependent on precursor chemicals like acetic anhydride
which is found in abundance in India, though controlled, but
availability in black market is not ruled out. The UN drug chief
called for better regulation of precursor shipments to prevent their
diversion.

Seizures of Afghan origin heroin in India indicated favourite routes
of traffickers which was Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai. The national
Capital alone accounted for 20% of all heroin seizures. The
international syndicates are believed to have used the terrorist
network of Pakistan and leeper cells in India to smuggle the drug
consignments.