After Army Shuts Down Border Drug Smuggling, Punjab Gets High On Made-In-UP Heroin

There is a clear and accepted logic to drug smuggling in Punjab - the heroin comes from Pakistan, while poppy husk and chemical drugs come from within the country. But in the past three months the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials have come across three cases where men tried to smuggle in some low grade, locally-made heroin into Punjab.

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Sources told TOI that the contraband could have been brought in from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Although the overall amount that has been seized is small - 6.6 kg - officials fear that a new supply chain has opened up for addicts and could wreak havoc in the future. It is believed that the new routes are being tried out because Border Security Force and other security agencies have clamped down on smuggling from Pakistan after the terrorist strike at the Pathankot air force station in early January. This has created a severe shortage of supply while there has been no ebb in demand in Punjab.

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In fact, in a first-of-its-kind survey by National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, AIIMS New Delhi commissioned by the Centre in January , it was found that 0.84% of Punjab's population is opioid - opium derivatives--dependent. Unlike previous studies done in certain districts of Punjab, where it was found that synthetic opioids were widely used, the study has shown that heroin--an expensive drug - has a fair number of users in the state.

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Besides, the Indian variety is much cheaper. While Pakistani heroin costs anywhere between Rs 1 crore and Rs 5 crore per kg, the local variant is available for between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 5 lakh per kg. The authorities have sent the contraband for testing to the Central Revenue Control Laboratory (CRCL) in Delhi.

Sources add that it has become difficult to bust the network of smugglers involved in this inter-state racket as they smuggle very small quantities of the contraband. The carriers are usually addicts who travel alone in luxury buses and in trucks.

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In first case on January 29, a man was taken off a luxury bus near Beas and six packets of heroin weighing 1.72 kg in all were found from a false cavity in his bag. On March 10, another man was caught on the Ramtirath-Loharka road with 2.4 kg contraband. In the third case, another 2.47 kg heroin was found on a man travelling in a truck near Ladowal toll plaza in Ludhiana.