India, Sri Lanka to enhance vigil

By K. T. Sangameswaran

CHENNAI, NOV. 17. Narcotics control authorities in India and Sri Lanka have agreed to step up vigil along the coast and keep track of the changing trends in smuggling.

At a review meeting of the enforcement agencies of both countries held in Colombo, it was noted with concern that unlike as in the past, smugglers in the two countries were beginning to operate independently instead working together.

This came into focus when two Sri Lankans were arrested earlier this month at Broadway here.

Heroin remains the preferred drug among youth in Sri Lanka and a huge seizure of brown sugar meant for smuggling to the island nation, has led the enforcement agencies of both countries to tighten the screws.

According to sources in the agencies, on an average, about 3,000 kg of brown sugar is being smuggled out per year, mainly through the porous Tuticorin coast. In fact, the quantity of seizure of heroin, meant for Sri Lanka, has been going up in the last four years. From 38 kg seized by the Narcotics Control Bureau, South Zone, in 1998, the quantity doubled the next year. About 100 kg was seized last year, while the haul so far this year was about 122 kg.

``The smuggling trend has picked up substantially'', says a senior officer. Among those arrested in the last eight months by the NCB in connection with the busting of smuggling gangs are five Sri Lankans.Besides the half-a-dozen major gangs detected and the members arrested in and around Chennai, there are about 40 ``loosely-knit groups'' of smugglers in south India, the sources estimate.

The NCB suspects that the drug smuggled into Sri Lanka is consumed locally as there has been no major seizure at its exit point.

However, the island authorities estimate that the quantity of heroin brought into the country is more than what is required by local consumers.

A constant watch needs to be kept in Tamil Nadu as the nefarious activity results in money laundering and triggers a ``spillover effect'', in that loose quantities of the drug, meant for smuggling, may be pilfered or diverted for local consumption in the State. This also leads to a nexus among criminal gangs as drug trafficking is more profitable than smuggling other commodities, say the authorities.

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