The Hindu : New Delhi News : Seized drug was meant for one of the African countries

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 30, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Seized drug was meant for one of the African countries

Devesh K. Pandey

Recovery of 4,400 kg consignment of Methaqualone in the Capital

DEADLY PACKS: The consignment which was seized on Monday

NEW DELHI: Going by Methaqualone smuggling trends in the recent past, enforcement agencies her in the Capital suspect that the 4,400 kg consignment seized by the Delhi police on Sunday was probably meant for one of the African countries.

Smuggling of Methaqualone, which is a recreational drug especially for those who cannot afford costlier stuff like cocaine and heroin, had become a major challenge for drug enforcement agencies in the early 1990s and several big seizures were made during this period. From 1996 onward, the seizures suddenly dipped giving the impression that manufacturing of Methaqualone had gone down.

A study of the seizures suggested that a big chunk of the Methaqualone produced in the country was meant not for domestic consumption but for smuggling to African countries, mainly South Africa. "They take it with marijuana for a `high' similar to what one gets from heroin. It has also come to light that the Methaqualone business was being funded from outside the country, especially from the Gulf,'' said one senior police officer.

When in the late 1990s it appeared that enforcement agencies had managed to control the smuggling of Methaqualone, the situation suddenly turned alarming as they discovered new manufacturing units and seized more Methaqualone consignments across the country in 2002. And it came to light that those in the business of manufacturing the drug had started using substitutes for the precursor acetic anhydride, a chemical controlled under the Narcotics Drug and Psychotropic Substances Act, thus making it more difficult for the enforcement agencies to track them down. The big seizures and unearthing of the Methaqualone factories raised a strong suspicion of revival of its large-scale smuggling. And the business was largely being funded and controlled from outside the country, like in the past.

Although very small seizures were made by the agencies in 2003, it shot up again the next year with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence unearthing yet another factory running in Hyderabad.

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