In its efforts to curb drug trafficking, the government is considering further tightening of control over precursor chemicals that are essentially required to manufacture narcotic drugs like acetic anhydride for heroin.
Finance Secretary R S Gujral on Tuesday said India has been working consistently to strengthen its legal framework in compliance with international standards set by the United Nations Convention against Transnational crime and the international drug control conventions. “I would like to reaffirm India’s commitment to fight drug-trafficking and its proliferation at the cost of the health and safety of the global community,” he said here at the 35th meeting of Heads of National Drug Law Enforcement Agencies (Honlea), Asia & the Pacific.
The top official sought cooperation from other countries to identify areas on enhancing regional drug law enforcement cooperation, highlight new initiatives, best law-enforcement practices and promote modern rights-based and evidence-based law-enforcement approaches as well as practical procedures to combat illicit drug-trafficking and cross-border crime.
The meeting proposed to have working groups on precursor control, heroin trafficking, trends and border control, according to Jagjit Pavadia, Narcotics Commissioner of India. Illicit opium production in Afghanistan is contributing to the heroin availability in the Asia Pacific region. There are indications that increasing illicit poppy production in some areas could lead to further availability of heroin.
The previous meetings of Honlea, Asia and the Pacific, have looked at the impact of West African trafficking groups operating in the region. It has said that an update on their operations would be a valuable contribution.