Keep Calm and Avoid Drugs

Drug Crimes and the Open Border

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Quit Drugs... Being a Quitter isn't bad after all.

oth the legal and illegal drug use and dealings continue to pose serious challenges for the law enforcement and the society. The Indo-Nepal border has become a haven, a transit point for drugs abusing and trafficking. Illegal trade of drugs is a common occurrence at almost every household across the border and within the No-man’s Land between Nepal and India. The scenario is even more disturbing—it’s particularly the youths drawn into this labyrinth of narcotics and drugs. National statistics on drug use show there is truly a cause for alarm. The presence of drug addicts at the border, frustrating factual data and less than effective police operations depict the bitter truth. However, this phenomenon of thriving illegal drugs trade is not new in Nepal. It has been on existence since a long ago. The open and porous border with India facilitates a favorable environment for drug abuse and trafficking. The scenario is obvious as an open secret at most of the border points in Terai. Drug abuse, of course, is implicated in other social problems. It is commonly assumed that drug abuse causes crime. However, the association is more complicated than that.

A large number of Nepalese youths are hooked to drugs abuse. Drugs like Phensedyl, Nitrazepam, Brown Heroin, and Hashish are easily available. Criminal justice and law enforcement responses to drug markets, drug abuse, and drug dealings at all levels vary significantly depending on the substance, the defined user base, and the dealing and distribution structure. Frail security policies and the corrupt custom practices has further elevated the confidence of the drug traffickers and abusers. The concerned agencies are failing to check the drug trade and discourage the user base. It has evolved into a worldwide global phenomenon and as an organized crime—a serious issue. Illegal drug trade and abuse is, therefore, a serious threat to public health, and has a wide range of deleterious effects on individual, families and communities, and a nation as a whole, which can lead to life altering and fatal consequences, including overdoses, infectious diseases, premature aging, accidents, crippling addictions, and domestic violence.

There is growing demand for drugs and psychotropic substances in Nepal, in the context of which those who channel it in through the border do so despite of the risks involved, yielding to the quick and handsome returns from it. Although Nepal Police has been able to crack down the major drug cases, its effective prevention yet still remains a far-fetched destination.

Drug Trafficking at Border

It’s not so much surprising that majority of the districts in Terai provide a breeding ground for drug traffickers and traders. The state of the illegal drug trade and smuggling is horrifying. Confiscations of marijuana and hashish in small quantities is a normal occurrence at borders. Yielding to the incidents of drugs trade crackdown and arrests at the border areas, it accentuates to the fact that the country is almost consumed by the intricate network of drug smugglers. Those who come under police radar turn out to be no more than mere carriers and porters in the supply chain. The real traffickers conduct their business and dealings very covertly and have cut-out layers in their transaction escaping the law enforcement The scenario is obvious and it is further endorsed by the production of drugs at border region, where the vast agricultural land plots are covered with Marijuana and Opium plants instead of the cash and food crops. Smugglers no more conceal those products for moving it across the border, but rather dare to openly use road transportation to move it to India and other third countries. The network of smugglers is not only international but also intra-national—even the inner parts of Makwanpur, Bara, Parsa, Rautahat, and Sarlahi fall under the vicious domain of the drug smugglers. Not only the misuse of agricultural lands for Marijuana and Opium farming, it appears like a cup of tea for them to move the so-produced drugs across the border and import the prohibited drugs from there. What’s more embarrassing is the fact that most of this takes place dodging the law enforcement and custom offices; it is alleged that such activities are possible due to involvement of police personnel. They seem to be unaware of the smugglers’ MO. Even when they are brought to notice, they are accused of overlooking. Reinforcing the border security check is sure to uncover many carriers and transportation moving the drugs. In spite of this, compared to the last few years data, this year has shown the significant number of arrests of the drug smugglers. Now this scenario can be analyzed from two different perspectives. May be it indicates the success of law enforcement and investigation effectiveness, but the dark story behind this placating view is that it actually points toward the rise in the rate of drug trafficking. The administration cannot be ignorant of the state of smugglers, but the police operation is nearly ineffective when it comes to bringing them within the arms of law. In spite of numerous operations to control smuggling, why is it limited to just a formality? Why the administration is closing its eyes over the openly practiced opium and marijuana farming?

Panicking Stats

Keep Calm and Avoid Drugs

As stated earlier, the issues of drug smuggling and addiction at borders are dreadful. Nepal Police reports the successful crackdown operations against the drug cartels accompanied by the seizures of drugs and medicines. It is found that the smugglers base their activities on the mobility of the police at border areas, and accordingly use different border points. With time, the smugglers have come to innovate the new ways of operating. Thus it is important to keep the police on high alert and increase the surveillance in crime-prone areas. Police report shows that the user base of drugs is expanding even though the drug traders has slightly decreased. Seasonal campaigns and operations do not help much in bringing this openly flourishing drug business under control of law. For this, it requires proactiveness of concerned agencies. At the same time, it is the responsibility of the family, teachers and the school administration to guide the youths towards the right track.

The open border is a heaven on earth for illegal business operation of any type. That’s why our border has become the transit for many criminal activities. Border areas are considered very sensitive, also from diplomatic perspective. Regarding this sensitiveness, the state has mobilized a large number of security forces—both the Nepal Police and Armed Police Force—for border security management and crime control. Besides, the district administrative mechanism is there. But in spite of these provisions, why our border areas are becoming the center for criminal activities? Why is our administration silent to this lawlessness… ridiculing the law of land? Why the illegal trade is flourishing instead of brining it under the control? These are some serious questions with gravity.

How to Control?

Nepal has a long-open border with India. Besides illegal drug trading and smuggling, other crimes has been increasingly occurring in the border areas. Those addicted to drugs are slowly killing themselves with overdose, while infecting the families, societies and communities. Injecting through syringes the drugs into themselves, they get lost in their own world. Even if they are destroying their own lives, the adverse impacts and consequences of it on the society are very devastating. There’s need for an urgent control which calls for bringing into attention the underlying causes for proliferation of drugs addiction. What’s more surprising is that drugs has become more of a fashion, especially among the youths who succumb to the peer pressure. In addition, the trend of family disintegration has further catalyzed this addiction epidemic. Unemployment and the problems among medium and lower classes provide the breeding ground for this. In most of the cases, the parents are totally unaware of their children tempted into the addiction. They come to know about this deadly situation once their beloved kids are arrested by police in drug cases, and even when they are brought to this knowledge, they tend to overlook or don’t want to believe it and shift the blame to external factors.

Drug traffickers are continuously innovating and searching for new ways and methods to smuggle the drugs. Law enforcement, especially the police should strategically tackle this issue, which calls for mobilizing the well trained team in order to check and control such criminal activities. At the same time it is necessary to stress on the importance and role of parents and civic awareness.

It is an open secret that our open border with India has become a transit point for drug trafficking activities. Despite this, the administration is alleged of being confined to statements and seems to be failing in its effective control. It is already late. And yes, it is not possible to accomplish all these at once. However, better late than never.

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Published on “A Journal of Drug Control”, Volume IX(9), June 2017. Published by Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of Nepal