Kerala CM proposes inter-State collaboration with Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry to combat drug smuggling

Kerala, on Wednesday, sought to rope in the governments of neighbouring Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to combat the inter-State flow of marijuana and synthetic drugs, such as MDMA and crystal meth, through joint enforcement and intelligence sharing. 

Chief Minister V D Satheesan has written to his counterparts in the three States to join forces to dismantle criminal enterprises that thrive on drug smuggling. 

He also focused on coordinating with Central agencies, including the Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB), the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), and Customs and Central Excise, to identify and strangle illicit financial channels used by drug smugglers, including international hawala networks. 

Mr Satheesan mooted joint patrolling of inter-State borders, covert surveillance to identify student networks which double as mules for narcotic smugglers, guerrilla cultivation of marijuana inside houses and apartments using the latest hydroponic techniques, to mitigate the mounting social, financial and public health burden precipitated by the upwardly spiralling abuse of drugs, chiefly synthetic narcotics, including hallucinogens such as easily concealable LSD stamps. 

Mr Satheesan also underscored the arrest of foreigners (recruited by local gangs to cook meth in clandestine backyard laboratories in urban locales) in connection with drug smuggling (chiefly MDMA and rarely cocaine) by the Kerala Police, pointing to the illicit drug trade’s international dimensions.

Operation Toofan

Mr Satheesan’s outreach to his counterparts in the neighbouring States assumes significance against the backdrop of Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala launching Operation Toofan, a sweeping State-wide anti-narcotic enforcement drive. 

Kerala has also timed the move less than a month after Tamil Nadu announced the Drug-Free Tamil Nadu Campaign aimed at dismantling narcotics smuggling networks. 

Notably, both Kerala and Tamil Nadu have expressed concern, separately, about synthetic drugs, chiefly MDMA, becoming the drug of choice among the younger generation, rapidly supplanting traditional marijuana and its derivatives, such as hash. Kerala had also flagged the increasing illegal import of potent varieties of genetically re-engineered marijuana – hybrid marijuana – chiefly from countries such as Thailand, which has decriminalised the drug. 

A senior official said actionable intelligence was crucial in dismantling synthetic narcotic drug networks, given the easily concealable nature of stimulants such as methamphetamines and LSD stamps. He said the street price of narcotics peddled to the end consumer in Kerala accrues several fold, given the risks and costs involved in smuggling.

Another investigator involved in Operation Toofan said joint enforcement drives targeting inter-state buses, border enforcement, trains and private courier agencies were in the offing.