Drug smuggling in India: 94% cases detected in 4 international airports

New Delhi: The four major international airports of the country in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata constitute about 94 per cent of instances of drugs smuggling and seizures, a latest data has revealed. Out of a total 63 incidents of narcotics detection and seizure at airports in the country in 2013, fifty-nine were reported from these air facilities, one of the largest hubs in terms of passenger and cargo load. Only six per cent of cases were detected at the airports of Guwahati, Bangalore and Madurai. [caption id=“attachment_2029237” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Getty images[/caption]While Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport reported a total of 17 drugs seizure cases during the said period, the Chennai airport had 16 such instances while Kolkata and Mumbai airports registered 13 such instances each during 2013. The data has been compiled by the central Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) which is the nodal authority for drugs and narcotics enforcement in the country. This is the latest data compiled by the agency for the full year of 2013. Two instances of narcotics seizure were detected at the Guwahati airport while one each was reported from Bangalore and Madurai during the same period. Over 1,026 kilograms of narcotics– including Ketamine, Ganja, Heroin, Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine– were seized from these air facilities during the year leading to the arrest of 75 people under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, the data said. “Drug couriers are largely intercepted and detected at international airports as they have the facility of being connected to foreign shores. Instances of both the consignment being sent out of India or being brought in have been detected under these seizures,” a senior anti-narcotics official said. The NCB, while enforcing anti-narcotics enforcement measures at airports, takes the help of airport security force CISF and Customs to nab couriers and effect seizures. PTI