Delhi, Mumbai are transit points for drug cartels

International drug cartels, particularly those run by Nigerians, are increasingly using New Delhi and Mumbai as transit points for trafficking drugs to most parts of Asia, according to Indo-Asian News Service Sunday.

Delhi Police Sunday detained six Nigerian nationals. The detention only highlights a growing trend. In the past 17 months, 36 Nigerians have been arrested by various law enforcing agencies with an overall haul of 230 kg heroin and 930 gm of cocaine in the capital. Police have also recovered 20,000 tablets of drugs, including Ecstasy.

Indian officials said these individuals act as "carriers" to smuggle narcotics from Afghanistan and Pakistan. They added that international cartels bring the "consignment" to New Delhi and export it to Nigeria where it is further processed before being smuggled to countries in Europe.

"A huge quantity of these substances changes hands in Delhi," said A. Shankar Rao, director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) .

Poverty and lack of education in many African countries had led young people to join illegal trade for quick money, he said.

"Most of the arrested individuals are in the age group of 25-35 years and the profits are enormous if deliveries are done without getting caught."

"The trend started in 2005 as very few Nigerians had been arrested in 2004. We have arrested eight Nigerians in 2005 although not a single Nigerian was arrested by the police in 2004, " said A.S Cheema, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) in the narcotics and crime prevention cell.

In an effort to crack down on the trade, the customs department at the New Delhi airport has prepared an elaborate list of known traffickers and their associates, suspected of smuggling narcotics through Delhi.

Source: Xinhua