INDIA'S ANTINARCOTICS INITIATIVES: CAN NEW DELHI CONTROL DRUG TRAFFICKING?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86T01017R000303070001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 27, 2011
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: September 17, 1986
• Content Type: MEMO

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Ccntral Intdligaxe Agency
,.IRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE
17 September 1986
INDIA'S ANTINARCOTICS INITIATIVES:
CAN NEW DELHI CONTROL DRUG TRAFFICKING?
Summary
India is an increasingly important transit point
for heroin consumed in the West and originating in both
the Golden Triangle and the Golden Crescent. Indian
ports and airports have become attractive to drug
traffickers as routes through neighboring countries
have become more difficult. New Delhi has reappraised
its antinarcotics effort twice since Rajiv Gandhi took
office 20 months ago in an effort to improve
interdiction of illegal drugs, but corruption,
resentment of the new Narcotics Control Bureau, and the
need to balance competing political pressures may
prevent Gandhi from pursuing the aggressive program
necessary to reduce significantly the flow of narcotics
through India. New Delhi's recent enthusiasm for
increased regional and international cooperation in
antinarcotics efforts, however, may offer the United
States an opportunity to improve bilateral relations
and strengthen US antidrug programs in South Asia. F-
This memorandum was prepared by
the Office of Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis.
Information as of 9 September 1986 was used in its preparation.
Comments and queries may be addressed to the Chief, South Asia
Division and Chief, Issues &
Applications Division
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Background
India has long been the world's largest producer of legal
opium. New Delhi closely monitors farmers growing opium poppies
through a complex system of licenses, acts as the single legal
broker for the raw opium, and oversees the international
marketing of finished pharmaceutical-quality opium gum.
US drug officials, however, estimate that this year about
140-200 metric tons--20-30 percent of India's licensed opium
crop--will be diverted to the illegal narcotics trade. US Drug
Enforcement Administration officials judge that most opium
diverted from licit domestic production probably is consumed in
A far greater problem for the West is the growing amount of
illicit foreign-origin opiates that organized criminal drug
trafficking syndicates are moving through India as routes through
Karachi, Bangkok, and Hong Kong have been constricted by tougher
enforcement. Although we have no good estimates for the total
amount of drugs trafficked through India, data reveals that
international seizures have increased dramatically in recent
years (see Appendix). Heroin trafficked through India forms an
increasing percentage of the narcotics entering US and European
markets. In the last three years seizures of drugs in Europe
that have originated in or moved through India have more than
tripled and US seizures have increased nearly fivefold. Most of
the seizures have been of refined heroin produced from opium
grown in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Burma. 25X1
Indian ports and airports provide easy links for
narcotraffickers supplying the western market. Lax customs
regulations for onward bound cargoes, corruption among local
officials, and extensive international sea and air connections
make India an attractive transshipment point for drugs
originating in both Southwest and Southeast Asia. Karachi,
Rangoon, Hong Kong, and Bangkok have increased the effectiveness
of their antinarcotics programs, forcing traffickers to seek new
links to Western drug markets. The success of their efforts will
make Indian ports even more popular as transit points for
narcotics trafficking. 25X1
Traditional smuggling groups have moved contraband
materials, including weapons and narcotics, through India for 25X1
centuries. These groups form a highly resilient network that
modern narcotics traffickers have adapted to their own use. F-1
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Gandhi Moves Against Drugs
Rajiv Gandhi has publicly called drug abuse one of the
greatest evils facing Indian society and has inaugurated a number
of national programs to address this challenge. His mother,
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, failed to focus on the issue of
drug abuse or to perceive the serious threat that both domestic
abuse and international trafficking pose to India. Rajiv Gandhi,
however, has responded to international and regional calls for
increased cooperation against drug trafficking and reports from
leading political advisors on the rise in domestic drug abuse to
initiate a new antinarcotics effort.
Regional drug trafficking is also a growing security concern
for New Delhi, in part because it is a factor in serious regional
communal problems.
up to 80 percent of the funds for the
Sri Lankan Tamil insurgent groups operating in India comes from
narcotics profits. These funds have enabled Sri Lankan
dissidents to evade New Delhi's attempts to control their
operations. We also believe a part of funding for Sikh
separatists in Punjab stems from drug trafficking in South Asia
and Europe.
Gandhi has given the bureaucracy clear signals that the drug
effort--like terrorism--is important to him personally and that
he wants to move quickly to address the challenge. His
administration has streamlined India's antinarcotics legislation,
adding stricter enforcement measures, and swift trials and harsh
penalties for abusers and traffickers. His drug reforming
efforts culminated this summer with the creation of a national
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), bringing together all sections of
the Indian bureaucracy with antinarcotics duties under one
authority for the first time. Gandhi appointed rising young
officials to key positions in the NCB, including B.V. Kumar as
Director General of the new bureau. Kumar is known for his
aggressive revenue enforcement as Director General of the Finance
Ministry's Revenue Intelligence Program. We believe the new
antidrug administrators will be less corrupt and more responsive
to Gandhi's leadership than the old bureaucracy.
In our judgment, the initial competition between the
powerful Finance Minister V.P. Singh and the influential Minister
of State for Internal Security Arun Nehru over control of the NCB
last summer underscored the importance of the new agency.
Although Singh managed to retain overall control of the new
agency under the Ministry of Finance, Nehru and other high level
bureaucrats will continue looking for ways to reduce the NCB's
prominence or bring portions of the program under their
control.
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Indian Cooperation in Bilateral Antinarcotics Programs
Gandhi's current antinarcotics push is consistent with other
initiatives he has inaugurated to cooperate with the United
States on international and regional issues. We believe New
Delhi will welcome new opportunities to become involved in
bilateral antidrug initiatives with the United States and other
Western states. Indian officials have shown a new willingness to
discuss such efforts with Washington, as demonstrated by the
formation of a joint US-Indian antinarcotic working group which
will meet for the first time this month in New Delhi.
Indian leaders, however, will seek to keep a low profile for
any US involvement in the national antinarcotics program to
reduce opposition criticism that the project has been handed over
to "foreign influence." New Delhi probably will couch any
bilateral antidrug efforts in terms that emphasize the national,
particularly Indian, nature of the program. The Indians will be
wary of US antinarcotics officials operating in sensitive areas,
such as the borders with Pakistan and the volatile tribal areas
along the Burmese border. Indian officials probably will seek US
support for programs beyond the scope of bilateral antinarcotics
discussions, such as India's efforts to ex id nternational
sales of its large store of licit opium.
Facing Major Hurdles
Although we believe Gandhi and the national leadership is
committed to the antinarcotics effort, selling the program to the
lower echelons of the Indian bureaucracy who are directly
responsible for the program will be difficult. Gandhi's efforts
will face resistance from opposition state governments, corrupt
local officials, and powerful smuggling interests in key Indian
cities and states.
-- Indian state governments remain responsible for local
aspects of the antidrug initiative and may not be as
responsive to New Delhi's directives--particularly in
opposition-led states--as Gandhi hopes.
-- Gandhi faces deeply-rooted local political interests if
his anti-drug campaign moves against leading narcotics
traffickers in Bombay, Calcutta, and New Delhi. Many
large-volume drug dealers apparently enjoy the protection
of important regional political patrons.
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Regional Factors
New Delhi's new enthusiasm to reduce domestic drug abuse and
narcotics trafficking may offer a valuable hook for US efforts to
coordinate antidrug programs throughout the Subcontinent
region. US support for India's effort also may translate
positively into a wider role for related regional antinarcotics
efforts, such as the initiative currently under consideration by
the leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC). US participation in joint and multilateral
ventures helps mask Washington's role in the region, a factor to
which all the nations of the subcontinent are sensitive.
Cautions
The recent antidrug initiative has received the personal
imprimatur of the Prime minister, a fact which can be counted on
to increase the receptiveness of some Indian officials to US
cooperative overtures. Still,
-- Indian bureaucrats will look to their US counterparts to
be aware of New Delhi's antinarcotics efforts and to
praise whatever success the Indian program has had.
-- Lower-level Indian antinarcotics officials will not want
to get too far out in front of New Delhi.
-- Indians will remain sensitive to any US efforts to
publicize American participation in New Delhi's
antinarcotics program.
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Structure of India's Antinarcotics
Enforcement Program
Ministry of
Now Affairs
Central Bureau
of Investigations
1
Narcotics Control Bureau
1 Narcotics Investigation
Unit
Central Bureau
of Narcotics
ndian Cuatoas Departsen
Central Economics
Intelligence Bureau
INDIAN HEROIN SEIZED IN EUROPE AND THE U.S.
Directorate of Revenue
Intelligence
1 Antinarcotice Ceil
!0 Men
LICENSED OPIUM PRODUCTION
Government of India Official Figures
Kee
400
10% 10 t 10 to M ,06 M
20-30% of the licit crop enters the illegal
market. Approximately 200-260 NT of opium
enters the market and is consumed internally.
^ Europe
^ United States
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SUBJECT: India's Antinarcotics Initiatives:
Can New Delhi Control Drug Trafficking?
NESA M-86-20143
Internal Distribution:
1 - DCI/DDCI/Executive Staff
1 - Executive Registry
1 - DDI
1 - ADDI
1 - NIO/NESA
1 - NIO/Narcotics
1 - D/NESA
1 - DD/NESA
1 - C/PPS/NESA
2 - NESA/PS
1 - C/PES
1 - D/LDA
1 - PDB Staff
1 - NID Staff
1 - DO/C/NE
1 - DO/C/NE
1 - DO/NE
1 - DDO/NEAO
1 - DDO/NE
1 - C/SO/D/NESA
1 - DC/SO/D/NESA
1 - C/PG/D/NESA
1 - C/AI/D/NESA
1 - C/IA/D/NESA
1 - DC/IA/D/NESA
1 - C/SO/S/NESA
1 - C/SO/A/NESA
1 - C/SO/P/NESA
1 - C/IA/I/NESA
1 - CPAS/ISS
6 - CPAS/IMC/CB
]/SO/S/NESA
2 - Typescript File
DDI/NESA/SO/S/[
(17Sept86)
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I I
SUBJECT: India's Antinarcotics Initiatives:
Can New Delhi Control-Drug Trafficking?
NESA M 86-20143
External Distribution:
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