CENTRE FOR LAND WARFARE STUDIES ISSUE BRIEF No. 206 December 2019 Anashwara Ashok is a Research Assistant at the Challenge of Narcotics Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS). She has completed her post-graduation in International Trafficking in Northeast Relations from O.P. Jindal Global University and holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the India University of Delhi. Her area of research at CLAWS includes Transnational Organised Crimes along Northeast India and Radicalisation. Key Points Introduction • Northeast India is geographically lying close to the The World Drug Report 2019 released by the United Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Thailand and Laos) and is Nations (UN) revealed that India accounts for 30 one of world’s largest drug producing region. • Northeastern states have become easy transit routes percent of narcotics drug-using population in Asia for the drugs produced in the Golden Triangle, to join 1 alone. Narcotics drugs are defined by the World Health the international market. This has serious political, Organisation (WHO) as “any substance that when economic, security, health and environmental taken into a living organism, may modify its perception, ramifications on the society. 2 • The rough terrain consisting of high mountains, hills, mood, cognition behaviour, or motor functions.” rivers and forests pose huge challenge to security With over 35 million people suffering from drug use agencies in guarding the border, providing safe havens disorders globally, illicit drug trafficking is increasingly to criminals for trafficking drugs, people, weapons and undermining the human capital of various countries contraband. • This has the potential to undermine national security including India. This has political, economic, military, by creating a nexus between drug traffickers, criminal health, environmental and psychological consequences networks and terrorists and increasing probability of and threatens the sovereignty and political stability of infiltration of arms and explosives in the area. many societies. Due to the geo-strategic location of • There have been numerous socio-economic, cultural and educational consequences of northeastern states India, the global narcotics industry is a major concern with large number of people, especially youngsters, for the national security of the country. indulging in substance abuse. Intravenous Drug Use (IDU) involving usage of infected needles has further India is wedged between two of the world’s most augmented prevalence of HIV/AIDS. notorious drug-producing regions. Northeast India • The issue brief aims to examine the prevalent drug is bordered by the ‘Golden Triangle’ consisting of menace in northeast India and suggests certain plausible actions that can be taken to overcome this challenge. Myanmar, Thailand and Laos while on the northwest lies The Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, is an independent think-tank dealing with national security and conceptual aspects of land warfare, including conventional and sub-conventional conflict and terrorism. CLAWS conducts research that is futuristic in outlook and policy-oriented in approach. CLAWS Vision: To establish as a leading Centre of Excellence, Research and Studies on Military Strategy & Doctrine, Land Warfare, Regional & National Security, Military Technology and Human Resource. Website: www.claws.in Contact us: [email protected] 2 CLAWS Challenge of Narcotics Trafficking... the ‘Golden Crescent’ with three contiguous countries, tropical rainforests in the south. Moreover, many namely, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. According to sympathisers of these criminal gangs due to their the UN, the majority of the world’s opioids (heroin and tribal and ethnic affinities provide information to the morphine) are produced in Afghanistan with Myanmar criminals about the security arrangements prevailing in as the second-largest producer. India has become an the area. Many ethnic war groups in Myanmar including easy transit for these drugs to join the international the Kachins, Karens, Mons, Shans, Chins, Kayah, narcotics market along with serious ramifications on the Rakhine and Wa have integrated insurgency with drug internal security of the country. production and trade. These insurgent groups maintain near-permanent facilities along the ungoverned Northeast India and the Golden Triangle frontiers bordering India and develop linkages with local insurgent groups of northeast India for trafficking The infamous Golden Triangle represents the region illegal arms and drug trade. Authorities have noticed an coinciding with the rural mountains of Myanmar, alarming nexus between local ethnic insurgent groups Thailand, and Laos. Not only is it the main opium- of northeast India with their counterparts across the producing region in South East Asia but also one of border. They have also asserted that these groups are the oldest narcotics supplying routes to Europe and funded by the illicit trade in drugs and fake currency North America. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) as the smugglers pay protection money to the insurgent recognises the Myanmar-Northeast nexus as the major groups to carry out their unhindered subversive source of heroin and chemical drugs like Yaba (a activities.4 Such interlinkages between insurgents and combination of many stimulants), Methamphetamines, criminals have become a potent threat in the form of and Ketamines. narco-terrorism with terror groups using trafficking routes with assistance of well-entrenched criminal India and Myanmar share a 1,643 km long border networks to penetrate arms and explosives in the region, along with the states of Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), hence challenging the security of the borders. Nagaland (215 km), Manipur (398 km) and Mizoram (510 km). Myanmar produces around 80 per cent of By taking advantage of the gaps found in the prevailing the heroin in the world which is trafficked into the security apparatus along with the border areas, international markets, mainly the US and European smugglers have developed infallible channels for the countries, through Thailand, China, Laos, Vietnam and drug trade, hence undermining India’s national security. India.3 With the increasing surveillance and crackdown Drugs produced in the ‘Golden Triangle’ region enter on drug cartels in most of the South East Asian countries, India mostly through Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland there has been a surge in using northeast India as the from Bhamo, Lashio and Mandalay in Myanmar. The exit route for such narcotics. Factors such as highly route bifurcates and one channel moves northwards porous borders, proximity to the Golden Triangle, through Moreh in Manipur while the other moves ethnic conflicts, unemployment, poverty and easy southwards to enter Champhai in Mizoram.5 Dimapur access to the international market have led to growing (Nagaland) and Guwahati (Assam) are also focal points narco-trafficking in northeast India. for narcotics trafficking. The inhospitable terrain and dense forest cover, has A surge has been observed in the illegal flow of high increased the porosity of the India-Myanmar border, Pseudoephedrine Hydrochloride (PH)-content drugs providing criminal groups safe havens. The region from New Delhi to Myanmar and China via Guwahati consists of diverse topography with high mountains by conduits based in Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram in the north along with hills, river channels and dense where these are regenerated into heroin and other CLAWS 3 Map 1: Drug Trafficking Route along the Golden Triangle Source: Namrata Goswami, ‘Drugs and the Golden Triangle: Renewed Concerns for North-east India’, IDSA, 10 February 2014, available at https://idsa.in/idsacomments/DrugsandtheGoldenTriangle_ngoswami_100214 psychotropic drugs.6 Moreover, these drug smuggling abuse and many of them suffering from AIDS. The routes, in turn, facilitate the trafficking of people, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare attributes the weapons and contraband. In recent years, it has been rise in the occurrence of AIDS to the increasing cases found that India’s northeast is being used to transport the of Intravenous Drug Use (IDU) involving the usage synthetic drugs from Myanmar to Bangladesh through of infected needles. The India HIV Estimation Report the 1,880 km long border between India’s northeast 2017 by National AIDS Control Organisation indicates and Bangladesh. There are two commonly used routes that the highest estimated adult HIV prevalence was in for this purpose.7 One of the routes passes through Mizoram (2.04 per cent), followed by Manipur (1.43 Champhai in Mizoram which is very well-connected to per cent) and Nagaland (1.15 per cent), all being higher cities in Myanmar like Tiddim and Mandalay and also than the national average (0.22 per cent).8 The Report connects to different locations on the India-Bangladesh also stated that the annual new HIV infections are border. The second route is through Manipur, adjacent rapidly increasing in Assam, Mizoram and Meghalaya. to Myanmar’s Sagaing Division, providing access to It further notes the variation in the prevalence trend areas near the India-Bangladesh border (Map 1). in the northeastern states. In Manipur, the prevalence trend declined after reaching a peak in 1999; in Impact of Narcotics Trafficking Nagaland it is stable; and in Mizoram, it continues to rise after being stable for a while. In rest of the region, Narcotics trafficking has affected the socio-economic, though prevalence levels are low, the trend seems