Pubdate: Sat, 26 Dec 2015 Source: DNA (India) Copyright: 2015 Diligent Media Corporation Ltd Contact: http://www.dnaindia.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4442 Author: Shweta Desai DELHI EMERGING AS GLOBAL TRANSIT HUB FOR DRUGS BY COURIER AND POST New Delhi: India's geographical location, huddled in between the neighboring golden triangle of Thailand-Myanmar-Laos and the golden crescent of Afghanistan-Pakistan, the regions fueling the illicit drug trade, was always an attractive destination for traffickers in the global narcotics smuggling. It turns out now that the capital city of Delhi is fast becoming the favourite transit area for international transshipment from high-end synthetic drugs to street-used ganja, charas. And the long-exploited mode of shipment through couriers is becoming the preferred method of smuggling drugs. This year itself, the Delhi unit of Narcotics Control Bureau has intercepted as many as 28 cases from the total of 47 cases, containing consignments of charas, heroin, cocaine, cannabis and methaqualone amphetamine mailed through private courier companies and the Indian Postal Service. That's an average of two cases per month, a three fold jump from the previous year's seizure, which had seven such instances of heroin and cocaine hidden in parcels. In 2014, there were 48 cases all over India that used couriers or parcels to transmit drugs. Traditional drugs like heroin and opium are trafficked from Afghanistan into India via Pakistan, through road ways like Attari-Wagah border and then onward to Delhi. For further shipment in Europe, West Asia and America, smugglers depend on couriers. In the last 5 years, there is increasing trend of incoming parcel consignments of meth and cocaine originating from Latin American countries and outbound packages of hashish, opium and cannabis from India to international markets. Drug smuggling through parcel or mail in India, experts say is relatively easier. "Regulations for shipment of packages is not highly monitored, due to lack of scanners and high dependence on random checking. Plus, the penalty or punishment if caught is not a serious deterrent, leading the big guys in smuggling to make use of individual peddlers to do the job,'' says R N Srivastava, additional director general of National Academy of Customs Excise & Narcotics. The frequent attempts of using mail and parcels, has led the Indian Postal Service to tighten its scrutinising process. It has made it mandatory for senders of international couriers to provide identity documents such as passport or Aadhaar card. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt