The increase in cocaine smuggling is largely attributed to trafficking from South America through African and Middle Eastern routes, the officials said, adding that there has been a notable rise in drug trafficking via ‘couriers and parcels’.“The smuggling of cocaine and heroin through air cargo and human carriers, primarily from Africa and the Middle East, is increasing, particularly targeting major Indian cities. Most heroin seizures made by DRI in the past year involved trafficking via air routes from African countries and land routes through India’s porous northeastern borders,” the official said.The DRI, in its report, has also analysed the reasons for increasing use of air routes by smugglers, and it concluded that this was because of the speed and growing volume of international air traffic, the officials said.The role of DRI is more critical than ever as India faces mounting challenges with sophisticated smuggling methods, shifting global trade patterns, the misuse of emerging technologies, and the expanding network of transnational crime syndicates.A new variety of cocaine, called ‘black cocaine’, is posing a challenge for all anti-drugs agencies, as it is difficult to detect using standard drug detection methods and thus can be smuggled through agents in the US and Europe.“By chemically masking the cocaine with substances like charcoal or iron oxide, traffickers create a black powder undetectable by standard drug-sniffing methods. This variant is disguised as industrial products like printer toner or metal ores and requires a complex extraction process to revert to pure cocaine,” another official said.
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