JOIN USThe latest report of the Narcotics Control Bureau on drug seizures in the country reveals that the seizure of high-priced heroin from Punjab was more than the total seizures from all states put together.
Punjab shares a 550-km long international border with Pakistan which is manned by the Border Security Force (BSF).
Reports tabulated on the basis of heroin seizures that took place in the last three years, till the end of March 2013, state that nearly 814 kg of heroin was seized by central agencies and the Punjab police during various operations on the border with Pakistan and within Punjab.
Heroin recovered from all the states during the same three year period accounts for less than 700 kg. Sources said the heroin seized from Punjab could be well worth over Rs 35,000 crore in the international market.
Pak route
Most of the heroin seized in Punjab was of south-west Asian origin that enters India through Pakistan, the report stated. Drug recoveries in Punjab in the last five years account for nearly 50 per cent of the total recoveries made in India.
Of the 23 significant seizures by central agencies in 2012, as many as 12 were from Punjab.
Punjab’s borders with Pakistan are long and porous. Interestingly, drug smuggling from Pakistan into India through the Punjab border is executed even through “crude” ways that include simply throwing drug packets across the fence or in hollow plastic pipes stuffed with heroin and other narcotics.
The rail and road link on the Punjab border, too, has been frequently used to smuggle heroin. Last year, 105 kg of heroin was seized from a goods trains coming from Pakistan.
According to the report, 180 kg of heroin was seized from New Delhi in the last three years. In Uttarakhand, 96 kg of heroin was seized during the same period.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal blames the Centre for Punjab’s dubious distinction. The five-time chief minister has maintained that since these borders are manned by the BSF, it’s their prime responsibility to check the drug flow from across Pakistan.
Punjab falls in line of the international drug trafficking zone dubbed the “Golden Crescent”. It is a major transit and destination point for drugs coming from Afghanistan and Pakistan, sources said.