LUCKNOW : The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has detected a high rise in the trade of psychotropic substances via UP, particularly Lucknow, in the past three years. Most of the drug mules come from Nepal and head to Delhi. The consignments are often concealed in a belt around the waist.
Officials of NCB’s Lucknow zone said against 17 hauls in 2016, there had been 24 till June this year with as much as 6,100 kg of charas, ganja (both made from cannabis plant), doda post (opium husk) and heroin, among others, being seized. These are worth several crores in the illegal market. On the eve of the International Day Against Drug Abuse on Tuesday, senior NCB officials said, ‘Psychotropic drugs were the latest fashion trend among youths in cities like Lucknow, Kanpur and Gorakhpur.’ They attributed the boost in trade to porous boundaries between Uttar Pradesh and Nepal.
“Drug consignments mainly come via three popular trade routes — Sunaouli (in Maharajganj), Rupaidiha (Bahraich) and Barhani Bazaar (Siddharthnagar) — to Lucknow from where they are finally sneaked into Delhi,” said senior NCB inspector UB Mishra, adding that the network involved even Nigerian gangs.
“These gangs use northeast Indians and the Nepalese as drug mules.” In 2016, around 3.5 kg of cocaine, worth crores in the international market, was seized and the kingpin was a Nigerian national living in Delhi. The consignments were well-concealed, wrapped in multiple layers of carbon paper and newspaper. Smugglers are known to use carbon papers as X-ray machines often fail to see through them.
In 2019, there have been a total of 47 arrests. On February 2, as much as 57 kg of charas was seized on Lucknow border and two Nepalese men were arrested. During interrogation, they revealed that the delivery of seized charas was meant for New Delhi. Another seven mules, again from Nepal, were nabbed with 60 kg charas in Lucknow in March.
Over the past six months, four Nepal drug mules were caught illegally transporting the banned drugs by the NCB. They were arrested in Lucknow with alprazolum injections. It is an anti-anxiety medication that cannot be used without a doctor’s prescription.
“The carriers — Nepalese mules were nabbed from near the campus of colleges on an informer’s tip-off. They were ferrying the consignment in syringes taped to belts around their waists,” the NCB inspector said, adding that lorazepam and diazepam injections were smuggled into Lucknow in a similar fashion.
Additional director, NCB Lucknow, RC Joshi told TOI that in order to curb the menace, they had tied up with the Special Task Force of UP Police and the SSB (Border forces called Sahastra Seema Bal) for joint operations. (Agencies)
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