India’s losing battle against drugs

A national survey on substance abuse commissioned by the ministry of social justice in 2019 revealed a startling figure—a staggering 40 crore Indians were on drugs. As many as 2.10 crore were addicted to heroin. Assuming each consumed half a gram a day, it would add up to 10,000 kilograms of heroin, each kilogram priced at Rs 2 crore.

People selling the drugs rake in mega bucks, paying neither VAT nor GST, points out Dr Rajesh Kumar, head of the Society for Promotion of Youth & Masses, which operates several deaddiction centres in Delhi. If correct, his calculations indicate an annual consumption of 3.10 lakh kilograms of heroin in the country annually.

Five years down the line, how serious might drug addiction in India have become?

The 2019 survey also estimated that the number of drug addicts was increasing by over two crore every year. This seems to be borne out by the sharp rise in the number of seizures during the last few years, chiefly along the Gujarat coast.

A joint operation by the Delhi and Gujarat Police earlier this month led to the recovery of 1,289 kilos of cocaine and 40 kilos of hydroponic marijuana from Ankleshwar, 14 kilometres from Bharuch. The haul was valued at over Rs 13,000 crore.

The consignment, which originated in Columbia, was seized from a pharma company, Aavkar Drugs Company Ltd. Before dispatching the cocaine to Delhi, the company apparently refined the substance, further jacking up its market price. Three of the five people arrested—Ashwin Keshubhai Ramani, Brijesh Kothia and Vijay Keshavlal Bhesania—were partners in the company.

Mayur Desale looked after production and processing while Amit, an employee, negotiated with suppliers. A resident of Vadodara with suspected links with UK-based handlers, Amit was allegedly working under Virender Baisoya alias Veeru, accused of running an international syndicate from Dubai.

Baisoya was reportedly running the racket with the assistance of Tushar Goyal and Jitender Gill, both of whom have also been arrested. The police said Gill, a resident of London for 27 years, had come to India allegedly on Baisoya’s instructions to ensure the safe delivery of the consignment to his Indian clients.

Ajai Sahni, director of the Institute of Conflict Management, points out that Punjab has arrested 83,000 people for drug-related offences. This after making drug tests mandatory for government employees. Sahni concedes that it’s really the small fry who end up getting caught, while the big fish get away. Naturally, because they often enjoy the protection of politicians. There is little evidence to link the drug trade with the mushrooming of muths, deras and temples, but the suspicion of drug-induced devotion is not to be sneezed at. Independent research on this is virtually impossible.

Growing frustration at work places for those lucky enough to be employed and stress over unemployment are catalysts for the rise in drug addiction.

India, Sahni reminds us, is also perfectly positioned for drug trafficking, sandwiched as it is between the Golden Crescent (the world’s largest illicit opium producing fields slicing through Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan) and the Golden Triangle (Thailand, Laos and Myanmar) with transit routes to the Far East and beyond.

With crystal meth (or methamphetamine) and Mephedrone (also known as M-cat and Meow Meow) being the ‘recreational drugs’ preferred by students, professionals and the rich, the processing of synthetic drugs has accelerated.

To order drugs on the dark web, all that teenagers need is a smartphone. For those in the dark, the dark web is that part of the internet which cannot be accessed without specific software. Encrypted networks like TOR, Silkroad 2.0 and vendors like T5 and Testall Ltd. (whose repertoire ranges from drug-dealing to arms-smuggling) can be accessed only by those who hold the keys. Payments are generally made through bitcoin transactions which are also untraceable. As a result, the large consignments delivered by courier services are not always easy to track.

October also saw drug busts in Delhi’s Mahipalpur and Ramesh Nagar. Cocaine and marijuana, valued at over Rs 20,000 crore, was seized. A string of suspects engaged in their transport and trade were arrested from Amritsar, Chennai and Hapur in Uttar Pradesh. In 2021, heroin worth Rs 21,000 crore was recovered from Mundra port in Gujarat. In 2022, drugs worth Rs 23,000 crore were seized off the Gujarat coast. In 2023, multiple consignments worth over Rs 5,000 crore were seized.

Who are the drug lords who can afford to lose such huge amounts and not go bust? If the money trail has indeed been traced to big ‘investors’ in this country, it remains a well-kept secret. The Mundra port haul was imported by a small, nondescript company registered in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. A Chennai-based couple, authorised importers of ‘semi-processed stones’, were arrested. However, the trail turned cold thereafter and media lost interest. While the ‘stones’ were to be delivered to an address in Delhi, the identity of the addressee was never revealed.

NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau) and NIA (National Investigation Agency) officials concede how difficult it is to trace the movement of drugs. NCB reports highlight that drugs like cocaine are increasingly concealed in household articles like cosmetics, books and utensils.

Move over mules—drug traffickers are increasingly using drones, even underwater drones, to transport and deliver the goods across the border states of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat. All this makes it practically impossible to put a figure on the quantum of drugs entering India. CBI director Praveen Sood points out that as many as 100 Red Corner Notices were issued in 2023 to extradite criminals and fugitives wanted by Indian law enforcement agencies, “the highest ever in a year”.

“With Interpol and other international partners, as many as 29 wanted criminals were brought back to India in 2023 and 19 so far in 2024,” said Sood, adding that “criminals are no longer constrained by borders, nor should our efforts to combat them”.

Haji Salim is apparently one of the major drug overlords based in Karachi. Indian agencies believe Salim is involved in smuggling large quantities of Afghan heroin and illicit drugs to India using the maritime route. He has recently switched over to using drones and is suspected to be working closely with the ISI (to facilitate the infiltration of Pakistani terrorists into J&K and Punjab).

Salim’s cartel operates several clandestine laboratories in Balochistan, where heroin from Afghanistan is labelled with different symbols or inscriptions such as ‘555’, ‘999’, ‘Unicorn’ and ‘Dragon’, indicating their destination.

With the Taliban having ordered the destruction of opium fields in Afghanistan, these cartels have now switched over to producing synthetic drugs. The spike in captured crystal meth consignments indicates demand is shooting up.

An ED official confided that seizures are made even more difficult by the cartels’ preferred modus operandi of mid-sea transfers from the mother boat (usually Iranian) to smaller fishing boats and dhows that carry the drugs into Indian waters. Cops also admit that earlier, dealers of LSD and MDMA (better known as ecstasy) were easier to trace, often hippie tourists, rave party DJs or event managers. With drugs being sourced on the dark web, the trails are much harder to sniff out.

By all accounts, India is losing the war against drugs. While dealers and ‘investors’ high on unimaginable sums of money are addicted to speedy returns, users are ready to risk their savings and even their lives. Rehab centres can barely cope, even as younger children get hooked on habits that are easy to acquire and hard to kick.