The latest 26 kg haul of heroin worth Rs 130 crore seized from Punjab would perhaps not have got as much attention but for the name of Olympic bronze medalist boxer Vijender Singh figuring in the drugs case. For, the fact is that it has brought into focus something of an open secret: that Punjab is now a preferred transit point in the illegal trade.
Having often made headlines over how its young generation has fallen prey to a variety of intoxicants, from cough syrups to muscle relaxants to poppy husk, Punjab, with an affluent clientele, is now a destination point for the comparatively expensive heroin too.
That a lot of drug trafficking, of heroin in particular, is happening through Punjab has been an acknowledged fact for some time now. As early as 2009, the Punjab government admitted before the Punjab & Haryana High Court that of all the narcotics transited through the country, around 40 per cent are through Punjab. The state government had further said that Punjab alone accounted for roughly over one-fifth of the total recoveries of heroin in the country and that the traffickers were using porous areas on the border, in addition to trains and buses, to smuggle heroin from Afghanistan via Pakistan.
In the three years between 2010 and 2012, the BSF, manning the border with Pakistan, recovered 418 kg of heroin, worth approximately Rs 2,090 crore in the international market, from Punjab?s border districts. Of these, 235 kg were recovered between January-October last year, including the 105 kg seized from goods trains coming from Pakistan.
A kilogram of heroin that costs Rs 2 lakh in Pakistan sells for a minimum Rs 12 lakh in India, which then sells for a whopping Rs 5 crore per kg in the international market. The lucrative nature of the business, enforcement officials say, is the reason so many youngsters choose to become traffickers, and subsequently users.
Raghvendra is an assistant editor based in Chandigarh
raghvendra.rao@expressindia.com