Friday, 17 May, 2024
By: Yash Gupte
In recent years, there has been an exponential rise in the drug seizures in India. Image Source: IANS
The recovery comes a day after the Border Security Force (BSF) seized 20 packets of heroin and a cache of arms and ammunition after a gunfight with Pakistani smugglers along the international border.
At Gurdaspur in Punjab, close to the international border with Pakistan, the Border Security Force discovered a drone and contraband items suspected to be heroin on Sunday, February 19, 2023. In a statement, a BSF spokesperson said that, “On February 19, 2023 at about 9:30 am, alert troops of BSF, while carrying out area domination patrol ahead of border fencing observed some suspicious items lying in the farming field near Ghaniake village in district Gurdaspur.”
He further added that “during thorough search, BSF troops recovered 1 Quad copter/ drone - DJI Matrice 300 RTK (Made in China) having payload carrying capacity of approx. - 9 kg, having a payload release mechanism, a reflector and 1 big packet containing 4 packets of narcotics suspected to be heroin in one big packet (gross weight approximately 2.730 kg) wrapped with yellow adhesive tape.”
The recovery comes a day after the Border Security Force (BSF) seized 20 packets of heroin and a cache of arms and ammunition after a gunfight with Pakistani smugglers along the international border. The gunfight started early on Saturday morning in Khasawali village of Gurdaspur district when the 113 Battalion of the Border Security Force observed suspicious movement of smugglers in the vicinity of fencing. Eventually, the BSF discovered a 15-foot-long pipe with 20 packages of heroin inside during a search operation around 30 meters from the fencing. Following a thorough search of the area, two pistols, six magazines, and 242 live bullets were found.
In recent years, there has been an exponential rise in the drug seizures in India. The reason behind this can be attributed to the rise in smuggling activities. The chart below shows the number of cases registered in last five years under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic substances (NDPS) act and the drugs in possession for trafficking.
Source: National Crime Records Bureau
The number of cases under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) act has been rapidly increasing over the years. In the year 2017, 63,800 cases were registered under the act which increased to 72, 721 in 2019. 2020 was the only year which witnessed a dip in cases due to the covid-19 pandemic. 59,806 cases were registered in 2020 but in the next year, the number of cases under the NDPS act jumped to 78,331. The Narcotic Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act) of 1985 was enacted to combat drug misuse by prohibiting the use, distribution, manufacturing, and trade of drugs. The instances of possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking were reported at 22,744 in 2017. This number increased by around ten thousand to 32,302 in the year 2021.
In this financial year alone (till November, 2022), officers of the anti-smuggling agency have seized about 990 kg of Heroin, 88 kg of Cocaine, 10,000 Methamphetamine tablets, 2,400 liters of Phensedyl cough syrup and various other harmful NDPS substances.
The lowest numbers of cases were registered in 2018. This tells that the covid-19 pandemic didn’t affect the possession of drugs for trafficking in a serious manner. The rising number of cases under the NDPS act and the cases of drugs trafficking is a major concern for the nation. The most prone category of people to the drugs is ‘youth’ as they are an easy target for the peddlers. Though various government agencies are working effectively to counter the drugs smuggling and trafficking, more needs to be done in this regard.
