New Delhi, Oct 9 (IANS): Pakistan-based narcotic cartels are now encouraging their cronies in India to ramp up homegrown production. With agencies such as the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) carrying out several drug busts, the cartels from Pakistan have decided to focus more on home-made substances to fuel their trade.
Before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, poppy fields were in abundance. Opium and heroin were coming out of Afghanistan in large quantities, and Pakistan-based cartels would rely heavily on this product.
The Taliban have taken strict measures and ensured that Afghanistan shall no longer have drug-producing fields. Instead, in the fields of Afghanistan, one gets to see potatoes, grain, and other vegetables being grown.
This decision has resulted in a drop of 95 per cent in the production of drugs. Before the Taliban took over, drugs were being produced or grown on 232,000 hectares.
Following the ban in 2022, Pakistan- and Myanmar-based drug cartels began moving towards synthetic drugs. Drugs such as methamphetamine or meth are in very high demand both in the Indian and international markets.
Unlike opium and heroin, meth can be produced all through the year. This means that the production levels would be ten times higher when compared to heroin or opium. Further, this also ensures that synthetic drugs are cheaper when compared to the field-produced narcotics.
This also drives consumption, as the affordability of such narcotics makes them accessible to a wider section of society.
An Intelligence Bureau official said that drug cartels which had set up massive synthetic drug manufacturing units in Myanmar and Pakistan are now insisting that their recruits in India do the same at home.
“This has been done due to the massive drug busts that have taken place in India in recent months. The new tactic by the narcotic cartels is similar to the one that Pakistan tries to adopt when it comes to terror-related activities,” said the IB official.
There is a major push being made for homegrown terror modules so that Pakistan can have the deniability factor each time a bust takes place, the official added.
Another official said that the creation of multiple homegrown synthetic drug producing units also eliminates the risk of the contraband being intercepted either on Indian or international waters.
The Indian agencies have literally choked every route that is being used by cartels run by the likes of Dawood Ibrahim and Haji Salim.
The Iran war has added to their miseries as the usual routes that would be used to smuggle drugs into India have largely been disrupted.
In 2024, the NCB and Delhi Police busted a clandestine meth lab in Greater Noida, adjacent to the National Capital. During the operation, the NCB seized 95 kg of meth.
Officials say that the cartels would push and also facilitate the setting up of such homegrown drug-producing units in many more parts of the country.
“There is a lot of focus being given to both Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The recent drug busts have affected the southern markets and also the supplies into Sri Lanka and eventually Thailand,” officials say.
The intelligence agencies have learnt that Haji Salim, who controls this route, has been dialling his contacts in Sri Lanka, Kerala and the Maldives. He is also in touch with some of his associates who are behind bars now, the agencies have learnt.
Haji Salim has been instructing them to make all possible arrangements to set up clandestine meth-producing labs in large numbers.
These recent drug busts, which directly affected the southern markets and the other routes leading from there, have put Haji Salim under immense pressure, especially from his international dealers. He feels that ramping up homegrown production will make up for the loss.
Moreover, transporting homegrown drugs is easier than smuggling them in from Pakistan and then through the Indian waters. This, he hopes, would solve the problem, and in case of a bust, Pakistan can always deny any involvement, an official said.
