Chandigarh, Jan 2
Narcotic smuggling appears to have touched dizzying levels across the India-Pakistan frontier with the Border Security Force having recorded its highest seizure of drugs in recent years, netting over 322 kg of heroin in 2013 that would be worth over Rs 1,610 crore ($258 million) in the international market.
Men of the BSF maintain high alert in sub-zero temperatures and a thick blanket of fog along the barbed-wire fenced 553-km international border between the two countries in Punjab. This is the highest seizure of heroin made by the BSF on the Punjab frontier with Pakistan. The previous high was over 288 kg of heroin seized in 2012.
Compared to the seizure of just 68 kg of heroin in 2011, BSF officers now acknowledge that smugglers from Pakistan and India have become more active in the last two years. In 2008, the BSF seized over 100 kg of heroin, in 2009 about 120 kg and in 2010 about 115 kg.
"The bigger seizures by the BSF are owing to stricter measures along the international border," BSF's Punjab frontier Inspector General Ajay Kumar Tomar said in Jalandhar. Besides heroin, the BSF also recovered over 246 kg of poppy husk in Punjab's border belt. This seizure was phenomenally high when compared to just 5.5 kg recovered in 2012.
BSF troopers killed five Pakistani and three Indian smugglers in exchange of fire near the international border in 2013. The BSF also recovered fake Indian currency notes (FICN) worth Rs 52 lakh along the border.
BSF troopers, who man the border belt, say that they have to deal with weather extremes and inhospitable terrain to contain smuggling.
By:IANS