India has seen a rising inflow of cocaine lately. On June 27, 2024, Chennai Airport customs officers intercepted 2.2 kilograms of high-quality cocaine from a girl who had smuggled it from Nigeria by way of Doha, concealing the medication in a hidden compartment in her shoe heels.
Between October 1 and October 13, 2024, coinciding with the Navratri pageant, India witnessed a vital surge in cocaine seizures. On October 1, the Delhi Police Special Cell raided a warehouse in Mahipalpur, Delhi, confiscating 562 kilograms of cocaine and 40 kilograms of hydroponic marijuana. Shortly after, on October 10, one other 208 kilograms of cocaine was seized from a store in Ramesh Nagar, Delhi. Investigations revealed that the medication belonged to a firm that obtained them from a pharmaceutical agency in Ankleshwar, Gujarat. In simply two weeks, regulation enforcement companies seized 1,289 kilograms of cocaine and 40 kilograms of hydroponic marijuana, with a avenue worth of ₹13,000 crores, from Delhi and Gujarat alone.
India has seen a rising inflow of cocaine lately. On June 27, 2024, Chennai Airport customs officers intercepted 2.2 kilograms of high-quality cocaine from a girl who had smuggled it from Nigeria by way of Doha, concealing the medication in a hidden compartment in her shoe heels. The cocaine was valued at over ₹2 crores on the worldwide market.
Earlier, on June 16, 2024, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) made one among its largest hauls at Kochi Airport, seizing 195 cocaine capsules from two Tanzanian nationals arriving from Ethiopia by way of Doha. X-ray screenings revealed the capsules inside their stomachs. Following medical extraction, authorities recovered 1.94 kilograms of cocaine from the person and 1.34 kilograms from the lady, with the overall haul valued at ₹32.42 crores. Similar operations occurred in April and July 2024, when Kenyan nationals had been caught smuggling liquid cocaine in shampoo bottles at Kochi and Mumbai airports.
The rise in cocaine influx into India is a part of a bigger world development. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Global Cocaine Report 2023, worldwide cocaine manufacturing reached document ranges, with practically 2,000 tons produced in 2020. Cocaine utilization can also be rising globally, with extra customers than ever earlier than. Traffickers make use of more and more refined strategies, together with impregnating cocaine into textiles, rubber, and different supplies, requiring advanced chemical extraction for detection.
Additionally, the 2022 report from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), titled “A Powder Storm,” highlights that Mombasa port and key airports in East and Southern Africa function main transit factors for cocaine coming into Asia. Cocaine, derived from the coca plant native to South America, is a extremely addictive stimulant drug that poses extreme well being dangers, together with coronary heart assaults, arrhythmias, and sudden dying.
Delhi and Gujarat, already beneath scrutiny following the large 2021 heroin bust of two,988 kilograms at Mundra Port, proceed to be hotspots for drug seizures. The Gujarat-Delhi axis is rising as a crucial zone, not simply attributable to market dynamics but in addition due to its implications for nationwide safety. Drug traffickers search to evade state motion by influencing political and authorized methods, as heightened enforcement efforts enhance the prices of their operations. Meanwhile, international intelligence companies might look to take advantage of vulnerabilities alongside India’s western border and within the capital, elevating issues concerning the potential for destabilization just like the scenario in Manipur.
The author is Former Director General, National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes & Narcotics
