Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Smugglers using fisherfolk to ship heroin to Sri Lanka

G. Anand

Vigilance against drug smugglers stepped up along coastline

Thiruvananthapuram : Drug smugglers are increasingly recruiting fisherfolk, who were impoverished by the tsunami disaster, to ship heroin to Sri Lanka, according to the Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) officials.

An early indication of the trend came in January this year when the NCB and the Indian Coast Guard seized seven kg of heroin valued at Rs.7 crores from a fishing boat off Thiruchanthoor in Tamil Nadu.

The three Sri Lankan fishermen who were arrested in connection with the drug haul told the NCB that they had entered the illegal trade to quickly overcome the losses suffered in the tsunami disaster.

The NCB has sought the help of various State and maritime intelligence agencies to step up vigilance along the coastline against international drug smugglers and their local agents. During 2003-06, the regional intelligence unit of the NCB in Kerala seized 60.4 kg of heroin worth Rs.60 crores in the black market. Fifty persons, including Sri Lankan nationals, were arrested.

The NCB believes that the seizures account for only less than 10 per cent of the drug smuggled from India to Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia and Maldives.

A senior official said the smuggling of heroin from Afghanistan to India through Pakistan has come down significantly owing to the policies of the new Afghan regime.

However, it is suspected that opium grown under Government licence in central India is being illegally diverted into the drug market.

The Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN), which is the licensing and regulating authority for licensed cultivation of opium, is learned to be cracking down on farmers who sell their produce on the sly to drug dealers. The CBN takes immediate possession of the harvest to prevent any illegal diversion of opium for making heroin.

The NCB is also collecting information on "backyard" factories that process opium into heroin.

Unskilled youth seeking employment in the Gulf are increasingly becoming victims of the machinations of drug smugglers.

Many are promised employment and free air-tickets for delivering the drug to destinations in Saudi Arabia.

"These youth could face death penalty if arrested by Saudi authorities," an official said.

The heroin is often smuggled concealed in bags with false bottoms.

A professional carrier could earn up to Rs.1 lakh for smuggling one consignment of the drug to Saudi Arabia.

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