Centre looks to install scanners at ‘vulnerable’ ports to check drug smuggling

The Centre is examining the feasibility of installing electronic scanners at vulnerable seaports since illicit drugs worth over ₹27,000 crore smuggled to India via maritime routes have been seized by domestic agencies in the past five years, people familiar with the development said.

“The home ministry has written to the secretary, ministry of ports, shipping and waterways, in this regard, asking to explore the possibility of electronic scanning devices at ports,” an official said, asking not to be named.

Although the details are not yet known, the official said X-ray scanners for containers are likely to be installed soon at all ports so that every incoming or outgoing shipment can be checked for contraband.

Indian authorities are carrying out coordinated operations with drug law enforcement agencies of bordering countries like the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control of Myanmar), the Department of Narcotics Control in Bangladesh and the Police Narcotics Bureau of Sri Lanka, a second officer said.

India’s Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) alone seized heroin worth ₹1,274 crore last year, in which 11 foreigners were arrested, official data show. It seized heroin and morphine worth ₹2,460 crore in 2017 at seaports, in which 13 Indians were arrested. Various drugs including ketamine and methamphetamine worth ₹1,136 crore were seized in 2019 and the bureau arrested 12 foreigners in separate cases. In 2020, heroin and amphetamine type stimulants worth ₹206 crore were seized and seven foreigners were arrested.

The largest ever heroin consignment intercepted by any Indian agency was in September 2021, when the Directorate of Revenue and Intelligence (DRI) captured 3,000kg of Afghan heroin worth ₹21,000 crore from Gujarat’s Mundra port. The shipment from Kandahar had come to Mundra via Iran’s Bandar Abbas port.

The DRI has also captured other consignments that include 303kg cocaine in April 2021 at Tuticorin port and 52kg cocaine worth ₹500 crore at Mundra port in May this year. The Gujarat Anti-Terror Squad, too, has captured several consignments at ports in the past few years.

As much as 70% of illegal drugs in India are now being sent through sea routes, especially in the western region, according to the latest annual report of NCB. “Most of such seizures are sourced from the ports of Afghanistan and Iran, which are destined to coastal states in India or are in further transit to countries like Sri Lanka, Maldives, etc,” it said.

“Recovery of drugs worth ₹27,000 crore from seaports is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Shreya Upadhyay, a strategic affairs expert and assistant professor at Christ University, Bengaluru. “There are consignments which go untraced and then there are huge batches coming via the land borders, air route and through courier parcels. This requires urgent attention of all agencies and governments.”

Apart from controlling smuggling at seaports, steps have been taken to ensure land borders with Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal are not used by the international drugs mafia.

For instance, the NCB has already identified locations to install mobile vehicle scanners at international borders and inland locations, said the first officer cited earlier.

Besides, since the beginning of this year, the NCB has also started taking over those cases from state governments and union territories that require in-depth investigation, require tracking and breaking of entire supply chains and have interstate or international ramifications. So far, it has taken over 27 out of 48 such big cases from the states and union territories.

The central government is also revamping the NCB in three phases – by creating 1,781 more posts for it (682 posts to be created in the first phase), creation of four new regional offices at Amritsar, Guwahati, Chennai and Ahmedabad, and a drug intelligence wing.

The National Investigation Agency, too, is focused on investigating international cartels involved in large amounts of smuggling at the behest of Inter-Services Intelligence, the Pakistani spy agency.