Source: 2001

International Narcotics Control Strategy Report -- 2001

Released by the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs

Southwest Asia

India

I. Summary

India is one of the world's largest producers of licit opium and the only country authorized to produce licit opium gum. It is a key heroin transshipment area due to its location between Southeast Asia and Southwest Asia, the two main sources of illicitly grown opium. India is a modest, but apparently growing, producer of heroin for the international market. The Government of India (GOI) continues to tighten controls to curtail diversion of licit opium, but an unknown quantity of licit opium finds its way to illicit markets. A small amount of illegal poppy is cultivated in the foothills of the Himalayas in northwest India, and also in northeastern India.

In 2001, the GOI conducted a Joint Licit Opium Poppy Survey (JLOPS) in cooperation with the United States for the purpose of developing a methodology to estimate opium gum yield. While the results of the first survey conducted during the 2001 opium harvest have not been finalized, plans are underway to conduct the survey for a second year during the 2002 harvest. The ability to estimate yields will provide a firmer scientific basis for establishing Minimum Qualifying Yields (MQY) for farmers--a significant tool in fighting diversion.

India has a large and fairly advanced chemical industry that manufactures a wide range of chemicals, including several precursor chemicals. These precursor chemicals are vulnerable to diversion for the manufacture of illicit narcotics. GOI controls restrict access to acetic anhydride, a chemical used to process opium into heroin. The chemicals n-acetylanthranillic acid, ephedrine, and pseudoephedrine and their salts are also fully controlled. The GOI reviews its chemical controls annually and updates its list of "controlled substances" as necessary.

India is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention.

II. Status of Country

Licit Opium Production. Opium poppy is grown legally in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh under a stringent licensing policy controlled by the Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN). India is the only country that still produces raw opium gum rather than concentrate of poppy straw (CPS). Certain processing facilities in the U.S. are optimized for opium gum and thus prefer it as a raw product, but it is difficult for customers to use, as a residue remains after alkaloids have been extracted, and this residue must be dealt with in an environmentally sensitive way. Nonetheless, the gum opium, labor-intensive way to produce opium suits India's circumstances better than the more capital-intensive straw process. Under the terms of internationally agreed covenants, India is required to maintain licit production of opium and carry-over stocks at levels no higher than those consistent with world demand, i.e., to avoid excessive production and stockpiling, which could be diverted into illicit markets. India has complied with this requirement and succeeded in rebuilding stocks over the past three years from below-recommended levels. After a period of low stocks because of failed crops, opium stocks now exceed minimum requirements.

India's opium buffer stocks were depleted in 1998. To meet India's share of anticipated world demand for licit opium and rebuild depleted domestic stockpiles toward an International Narcotics Control Board-recommended level of approximately 750 metric tons (90 percent solid), the GOI licensed a larger number of farmers and an increased area for poppy cultivation during 1999 and 2000. In 1999, the GOI licensed 156,071 farmers and 33,459 hectares, of which 29,163 hectares were harvested. The 1999 crop produced a yield of 971 metric tons at 90 percent solid, against a target of 1,300 metric tons, representing an average yield of 47.4 kilograms of gum per hectare.

For the 2000 crop year, the Indian government set a licit opium production target of 1,200 metric tons (90 percent solid), and licensed 159,884 farmers to cultivate opium on 35,271 hectares, of which 32,085 hectares were harvested. The 2000 harvest yielded 1,302 metric tons at 90 percent solid gum, exceeding the GOI's target and representing the highest yield ever in Indian opium cultivation history. Though the 1999 and 2000 harvests had similar weather conditions, enhanced enforcement during the harvest and official weighing periods prompted farmers to turn in appreciably higher yields to government purchasing agents in 2000. The average yield increased by 12 percent from 47.4 kilograms/hectare in 1999 to 53.14 kilograms/hectare in 2000, leading to speculation about the possible extent of diversion in the prior year. Initial estimates on the amount of suspected diversion of opium from the 1999 harvest ranged as high as 300 metric tons, which would have represented almost 25 percent of the whole crop. The GOI disputed these estimates, citing other factors, such as crop diseases and insufficient water, which adversely affect the average yield. More conservative estimates, based on a comparison of the actual harvested land and the average yield in each year, place the amount of diversion in 1999 around 170 metric tons (15 percent of the crop). The apparent success in curtailing diversion in 2000 appears due in large part to the more aggressive GOI drug control efforts during the harvest and collection period of the crop. Strong enforcement efforts were also evident during the 2001 harvest.

For the 2001 crop year--reflecting the GOI's success in 2000 in almost doubling the minimum required licit opium stockpile to 1,420 metric tons at 90 percent solid--the GOI target yield was reduced to 900 metric tons at 90 percent solid (1,157 metric tons at 70 percent solid). The total licensed area was reduced from 35,271 hectares to 26,684 hectares, and the number of licensed farmers was reduced from 159,884 to 133,409. Due to severe drought conditions in Madhya Pradesh, however, only 96,435 of these farmers were able to cultivate 18,086 hectares, representing only 68 percent of the total licensed area. The GOI reported a total yield of 727 metric tons of opium at 90 percent solid (935 metric tons at 70 percent solid), falling short of the GOI target by 19 percent. The average yield for the 2001 harvest was 51.64 kilograms/hectare, down from the average yield of 53.14 kilograms/hectare in 2000.

In drought-affected Madhya Pradesh, farmers were able to cultivate only 45 percent of the licensed land, all of which required irrigation. Despite the reduced cultivation in Madhya Pradesh, farmers there achieved an average yield of 56.37 kilograms/hectare, representing an increase in their average yield of 55.79 kilograms/hectare from 2000. Farmers in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh realized average yields of 57.384 kilograms/hectare and 36.085 kilograms/hectare, respectively, compared to average yields in 2000 of 53.82 kilograms/hectare and 44.77 kilograms/hectare. The significant drop in the average yield from 44.77 kilograms/hectare to 36.085 kilograms/hectare in Uttar Pradesh is attributed to record levels of farmers tendering adulterated opium. Over 5,500 farmers in Uttar Pradesh are currently being investigated for adulterating 66 metric tons of opium with a substance known as dextrine. An additional 500 farmers in Rajasthan submitted adulterated opium. The total amount of suspected or adulterated opium reported by the GOI was approximately 72 metric tons, roughly eight percent of total yield. All 6,000 farmers involved have been de-licensed and may face charges under the amended Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985 pending further investigation.

For the 2002 crop year, 118,596 cultivators have been licensed for opium cultivation over an area of about 23,719 hectares. The target yield of opium for the 2002 harvest is 952 metric tons at 90 percent solid (1,224 metric tons at 70 percent solid). Only those cultivators who tendered the minimum qualifying yield (MQY) for the 2001 harvest have been given licenses for 2002, i.e., at least 52 kilograms/hectare for Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, and 44 kilograms/hectare for Uttar Pradesh. No first-time cultivators will be licensed for the 2001-2002 growing season, as was the case for the 2000-2001 season. The MQY has again been increased by the GOI for the crop year 2002. Cultivators must tender 53 kilograms/hectare in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, and 45 kilograms/hectare in Uttar Pradesh during the 2002 harvest in order to be eligible for an opium license for the crop year 2003.

Licensed farmers are allowed to cultivate a maximum of 20 "ares" (1 are is 100 M2 , so 20 ares = one-fifth of a hectare) and are expected to remit their entire yield to the CBN. The GOI's Ministry of Finance announces the MQY in the annual Opium Policy at the beginning of each opium cultivation season in September or October. The MQYs are based on historical yield levels from licensed farmers during previous crops. Increasing the annual MQY has proven effective in increasing productivity, as measured in average yields, and providing a deterrent to diversion.

Other licit opium diversion controls introduced in 1999 were continued in 2000 and 2001 and include re-surveys of plots after the planted crop reaches a particular stage of growth to ensure that the area under cultivation matches that licensed. Cultivation more than five percent above the licensed amount is destroyed, and the cultivator is liable to prosecution. Controls during the poppy lancing period at harvest have also been strengthened. Daily yields are recorded in a so-called Procurement/Weighment(sic) Register by a designated official. The register is checked regularly and the yield tendered by the cultivators is physically verified to check the correlation between the two. During the lancing period, preventive checks and raids are conducted to search for opium that might have been concealed by the cultivators. During the course of these raids, CBN officers discovered 11 tons of concealed opium during the 2000 harvest and seven tons during 2001. To increase control over licit opium production, the amended NDPS Act places offenses relating to cultivation and embezzlement of opium by licensed cultivators on par with other drug trafficking offenses.

The GOI also periodically raises the official price paid to farmers to encourage greater productivity and prevent diversion to the black market. Opium farmers can receive prices four to five times higher than the base government price of Indian Rupees (Rs.) 630 per kilogram from opium middlemen and money lenders who in turn sell the opium for still higher black market prices. GOI price increases are related to the export price that the United States and other countries are willing to offer in the international market for Indian opium. Citing stable commercial export prices and an apparent decrease in export demand, the GOI announced prices would not be increased for the second year in a row. The last increase was effective for the 2000 opium harvest. For the crop years 2000, 2001, and 2002, the established price schedule (opium yield per hectare and price per kilogram at 70 percent solid) ranges from Rs. 630 for yields from up to 44 kilograms/hectare to Rs. 1,200 for more than 100 kilograms/hectare.

India produces opium by traditional methods, extracting the opium gum by hand by lancing the capsules. India's licit opium gum is high in morphine content and has other alkaloids such as thebaine now favored by international narcotics raw materials importers. Other legal producers of opium alkaloids, such as Turkey, France, and Australia, produce concentrate of poppy straw (CPS), harvesting unlanced poppy capsules and using a chemical extraction process. India is currently conducting some limited experiments to explore the possibility of conversion of some of its opium crop to the CPS method and to determine the feasibility of extracting additional alkaloids from already-lanced poppy straw.

India's traditional style of harvesting opium gum has an inherent weakness in controlling diversion. Each year over one million farmers and farm workers come into contact with the poppy plants and their lucrative gum. Closely policing these farmers operating on privately held land scattered throughout three of India's largest states is a considerable challenge for the CBN, which has a permanent staff of 1,500 officers. During the harvest season, CBN's forces are bolstered by 18 teams of Central Excise officers with vehicles to help patrol the fields and oversee the harvest. Six teams of six officers each are assigned to each of the three states.

Though no reliable estimate of diversion from India's licit opium industry exists, official Indian observers and drug enforcement officials have estimated diversion at ten to 30 percent of the crop. A large portion of the diverted opium is consumed domestically. CBN estimates a minimum of 80 to 100 tons of opium alone is required to supply India's opium addicts. There was international concern that diversion in 1999 was at record levels but most observers believe that diversion was greatly curtailed in 2000 and 2001. A ten percent rate of diversion would put some 90 tons of opium gum from the 2001 harvest and 170 tons of opium gum from the 2000 harvest (both figures at 70 percent solid) into the illicit narcotics market and make India among the world's largest producers of illegal opiates.

Heroin Production. While criminal elements produce heroin from both diverted legal opium and illegally grown opium, no reliable data is available on the extent of production. Poppies are grown illicitly in the Himalayan foothills of Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh, and in northeast India near the Burmese border in the states of Manipur, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh. The quantities of illicit production appear relatively small, and there is little current indication that such opiates find their way into the export market for the United States.

Heroin base ("brown sugar" heroin) is the domestic drug of choice. "Brown sugar" heroin, originating in India, is available in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. During 2001, the CBN detected and destroyed seven small-scale refining laboratories in India's licit opium poppy growing regions. Since January 1999, Indian authorities have begun to seize small quantities of refined or white heroin, at least part of which was produced in India, destined for Sri Lanka and Europe. Such trends indicate nascent attempts to cater to western heroin markets that demand refined heroin as opposed to brown sugar heroin. GOI officials estimate that approximately 30 percent of heroin seizures are of Indian origin and acknowledge India's emerging status as a heroin-producing country.

Domestic Demand. In the northeastern state of Manipur, injectable Southeast Asian heroin was common a few years ago and needle sharing spread the HIV virus. But since the mid-1990s the drug of choice in northeast India has been proxyvon, a painkiller in capsule form that is opened, the contents dissolved in water, and then injected. Proxyvon is now the drug of choice as it costs about 34 cents per dose, compared to a price of $2 and higher for a dose of heroin.

Precursor Diversion. India produces approximately 45,000 metric tons of acetic anhydride (AA) for the legal domestic and international chemical markets. Locally, much of the licit AA is used by the tanning and dyeing industries. Raids on some dye manufacturers in December 2000 revealed that 50 tons of AA were unaccounted for, supporting suspicions that significant quantities of AA continue to be diverted to heroin or methaqualone (mandrax) laboratories throughout South Asia. Because AA is a controlled substance, AA manufacturers are required to seal all trucks leaving their factories, yet the chemical apparently gets diverted in transit. In early 2001, investigations by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Mumbai led to the unraveling of a major racket involving diversion of AA for the manufacture of methaqualone. The case involved transporters, warehouse keepers, and middlemen who were fencing AA to illicit methaqualone manufacturers and resulted in the seizure of 8.5 tons of AA. Total AA seizures in 2001 were 8,501 liters involving six cases compared to 1,337 liters seized in 2000 in 14 cases. In 1993 the GOI imposed controls on the production, sale, transportation, import, and export of AA. These controls have reduced the availability of the chemical to the illicit market. Nevertheless, illicit diversion of precursor chemicals from India continues to occur.

India produces over 500 metric tons of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine annually. Both of these precursors, which are illicitly used to produce methamphetamine and amphetamine tablets, were declared controlled substances in December 1999. While seizures fell from 2,134 kilograms in 1999 to 532 kilograms in 2000, 840 kilograms of ephedrine were seized in January 2001 alone. Total seizures for 2001 were 1,017 kilograms. The majority of the seizures were destined for Myanmar, where a significant industry of illicit manufacturers of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) exists. A total of 5,600 ATS tablets were seized in 2001, compared to 8,804 tablets in 2000, most of which were made along the Burmese border with the state of Manipur, near Moreh.

Transit Routes. India is a transit route for illicit heroin, hashish, and morphine base from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Burma, and to a lesser extent, Nepal. Over the past few years, Sri Lanka has emerged as an important destination for heroin transiting through and from India, and heroin seizures in the southern areas of India have increased sharply. The NCB reports that in 2001 approximately 200 kilograms of heroin were seized bound for Sri Lanka. The amount of Indian-origin heroin or other drugs that enters the United States is not believed to be significant. Trafficking in Indian-produced methaqualone to Southern and Eastern Africa continues. In March 2001, the NCB seized 400 kilograms of mandrax/methaqualone tablets in Mumbai after searching an export container destined for South Africa. Seizures of methaqualone totaled 1,984 kilograms in 2001. Cannabis smuggled from Nepal is mainly consumed within India, but some makes its way to western destinations.

III. Country Action Against Drugs in 2001

Policy Initiatives. India's stringent Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985 was amended on October 2, 2001, bringing significant flexibility to the sentencing structure; removing obstacles faced by investigation officers related to search, seizure, and forfeiture of illegally acquired property; and providing for controlled deliveries to facilitate investigation both within and outside the country. The amended NDPS Act also clarifies the application of bail for serious offenders more likely to flee before trial, and closes various technical loopholes that previously hindered the prosecution and conviction of drug traffickers. Financial investigations have been made easier with amendments that criminalize the laundering of drug proceeds and allow the freezing of assets of the drug offender prior to a conviction. Provisions of entry, search, and seizure have now been expanded to include cases relating to financial investigations and controlled substances, giving investigating officers the same powers of investigation in cases related to precursor diversion as they have in other drug investigations. Offences under the Act punishable for a term of more than three years may be tried only by the Special Courts; offences punishable for less than three years may be tried at first instance.

The amended Act now provides punishment in three categories, depending on the quantity of drugs seized (small, greater than small but lesser than commercial quantity, and commercial quantity). Punishments range from six months imprisonment and/or a fine of Rs. 10,000 ($213) for small quantities; to up to ten years imprisonment and/or a fine of Rs. 100,000 ($2,128) for the second category; and from ten to twenty years imprisonment and/or a fine of Rs. 100,000-200,000 ($2,128-$4,256) for commercial quantities. Prior to the amendment, an individual found in possession of small quantities of a controlled substance was subjected to the same penalties as someone found trafficking in large quantities of narcotics. Judges were believed to be reluctant to find small-time traffickers and addicts guilty, as the mandatory sentence was ten years imprisonment. Defendants were frequently released on minor technicalities. The amended Act is expected to significantly increase the conviction rate for future violators of the NDPS.

• In 2001, the GOI announced that the NCB would shift from under the control of the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Home Affairs effective April 1, 2002. The move is expected to enhance the NCB's law enforcement capabilities and align the bureau with other GOI police agencies under the control of the Home Ministry. A number of proposals are also under consideration to bolster the professionalism of the NCB, including extending the length of deputation of officers to the NCB from three to five years, and adding an extension clause for an additional two years.
• The United States and India signed a bilateral mutual legal assistance treaty on October 17, 2001. The treaty will allow more efficient law enforcement cooperation between the two countries.
• The GOI also approved the opening of a U.S. Customs Service office at the U.S. Embassy. The office is expected to open in the summer of 2002.
• The GOI is currently conducting some limited experiments to explore the possibility of conversion of some of its opium crop to the CPS method and to determine the feasibility of extracting additional alkaloids from already-lanced poppy straw.

Accomplishments. In addition to the significant policy and bilateral cooperation initiatives above, India's various agencies involved in drug control work, particularly the CBN and the NCB, continued to take steps to curb drug trafficking and abuse in India during 2001. While the CBN oversees the licit opium program and India's chemical industry, the NCB is responsible for counternarcotics efforts and law enforcement coordination. Despite new initiatives, both the CBN and the NCB continue to face personnel and financial constraints in conducting a strong counternarcotics program.

• According to information provided by the GOI, 21 drug trafficking syndicates engaged primarily in trafficking heroin from Pakistan to India and from India to West Africa, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh have been dismantled, as have eight inter-state gangs of drug traffickers.
• Indian authorities have established a continuous aerial/satellite-based system for monitoring licit and illicit opium cultivation nationwide. The system is expected to become operational in early 2002.
• The CBN has initiated a special project to explore income substitution and alternative development programs with the aim of total eradication of poppy cultivation in the illicit poppy growing areas of Arunachal Pradesh. During the past two poppy seasons, the CBN conducted two ground surveys covering four districts of Arunachal Pradesh, where opium has become an important cash crop. The surveys were undertaken to collect demographic, economic, and cultural data; to assess the extent of illicit opium poppy cultivation and opium drug addiction; and to explore options for viable alternative development. To elicit the cooperation of the villagers in the survey, the CBN did not conduct illicit poppy eradication campaigns in these areas during the 2000-2001 growing season.
• Indian authorities continued to work closely with the drug enforcement agencies of other countries. On the basis of intelligence provided by the GOI, U.S. Customs, in coordination with DEA authorities, seized five kilograms of heroin in New York in August 2001. British Customs also seized 3.5 kilograms in May 2001 on the basis of intelligence provided by India. In another example of excellent cooperation between the United States and India, two Indians involved in a heroin trafficking conspiracy were convicted and sentenced in Mumbai in 2001, on the basis of testimony provided by DEA officials in 2000.
• The GOI continued to work with the UNDCP on studies of drug demand reduction and precursor chemical control in South Asia. To learn more about India's own drug problem, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the UNDCP embarked on a comprehensive survey of narcotics addiction nationwide. The first results of the survey are expected in early 2002. Under the "Scheme for Prohibition and Drug Abuse Prevention" begun in 1985, the GOI funds 90 percent of the costs of 340 NGOs in maintaining 425 drug treatment centers nationwide. The GOI is also working with the ILO and the UNDCP to implement community-based rehabilitation and workplace prevention programs.
• India also participates in bilateral efforts to counter narcotics trafficking. Under the auspices of the UN and with U.S. encouragement, meetings between counternarcotics officials of India and Pakistan, which began in 1994, have continued. An Indo-Pak Quarterly Coordination meeting was held in August 2001 at the Nagah border. Periodic meetings also take place with Burmese officials along the border, most recently in September 2001, to exchange narcotics information and coordinate enforcement operations on either side of the Indo-Burma border. India and Sri Lanka have held "operational level talks" since 1997 and continue to do so to coordinate counternarcotics efforts. India also maintains close liaisons with other South Asian countries through the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) drug offenses monitoring desk in Colombo that facilitates collection of data on drug seizures in SAARC countries.
• The CBN launched a website to educate and assist importers and exporters on precursor chemical requirements. The informative site includes a brief history of opium poppy cultivation in India, background on the CBN, details of India's licit opium production and precursor chemical controls, and the CBN's efforts to pursue alternative development in India's illicit poppy growing regions.
• In early March 2001, the CBN sponsored a two-week training course on precursor chemicals for drug law enforcement officers of the Central Asian states. The course, which was hosted by CBN headquarters in Gwalior, also included tours of Delhi and Mumbai airports as well as the seaport in Mumbai.
• The NCB has requested assistance in upgrading its information management and intelligence gathering technology and expertise to enable it to conduct more sophisticated investigations of large-scale drug trafficking organizations. The Department of State's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs is providing this assistance under the counternarcotics letters of agreement (LOAs) for FY 2000 and FY 2001.
• The NCB also launched a quarterly newsletter in June 2001 in order to share information on the latest trends in drug trafficking, seizure data, High Court judgments and interpretations of the NDPS Act, and items of interest to drug law enforcement agencies.

Precursor Chemical Control. India participates in the multilateral potassium permanganate tracking program, "Operation Purple," and India's CBN Narcotics Commissioner is co-chairing the AA tracking program, "Operation Topaz." CBN will host an Operation Topaz Steering Group meeting in New Delhi in February 2002 in conjunction with an INCB-sponsored conference on ATS precursors. A series of meetings held by the CBN and the NCB with the industry in 1996 produced a voluntary code of conduct among firms that is aiding the enforcement effort. The GOI reports that cooperation from industry in controlling the availability of precursor chemicals continues to be strong. (For details, see the Chemical Controls chapter.)

Law Enforcement Efforts. The GOI continues to actively pursue investigations against drug traffickers operating within India and to interdict the flow of narcotics being smuggled across its borders. GOI officials state that smuggling of drugs into India has become more difficult and arrests and seizures of heroin are down due in part to fencing along large portions of the Indo-Pak border, and the disruption of Afghan trafficking routes and increased patrolling along the border since September 11. Other officials argue that enforcement has become more complacent because of a perception of false security provided by the fenced border. In October 2001, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officers seized 16 kilograms of heroin that had entered India through a fenced portion of the border. Provisional year-end reports provided by the GOI for 2001 indicated that an estimated 813 kilograms of heroin were seized, down 34 percent from 2000 (1,240 kilograms), but approximately equal to seizures in 1999 (861 kilograms). Opium seizures, all of which are determined to be of Indian origin and most of which occur in India's poppy growing regions, have remained relatively constant over the last four years. In 2001, opium seizures totaled 2,321 kilograms, down slightly from 2,684 kilograms in 2000 and up from 1,635 kilograms in 1999. Hashish seizures totaled 5,164 kilograms (versus 5,041 in 2000) and morphine seizures totaled 23 kilograms (versus 39 kilograms in 2000). During 2001, customs officers at New Delhi airport experienced first-time seizures of Buprenorphine, Diazepam, and Phenobarbitol. Officers detected and seized 7,913 vials of Buprenorphine injections, 650 tablets of Diazepam, and 49 kilograms of Phenobarbitone.

Through December 2001, 13,333 persons were arrested for drug-related offences, a figure that is down from 15,065 persons who were arrested in 2000. Through the year, 2,929 persons were convicted for drug trafficking, compared to 4,447 convictions in 2000.

Corruption. Allegations of corruption among law enforcement personnel, elected politicians, and cabinet-level ministers of the GOI continue to be aired in the Indian media. The United States receives reports of narcotics-related corruption, but lacks the means to assess the overall scope of drug corruption in India. Both the CBN and the NCB have periodically taken steps to punish corrupt officials within their ranks. The CBN frequently transfers officials in key drug producing areas and has increased the transparency of paying licensed opium farmers to prevent corruption. The CBN reported one case of corruption in 2001 involving a CBN District Opium Officer and an Inspector who falsely reported the uprooting of an opium field. One of the suspects has been arrested and the other is a fugitive. The CBN seized 20 kilograms of opium in the course of the investigation.

Agreements and Treaties. India is a party to the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and its 1972 Protocol, the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the 1988 UN Drug Convention. India meets most of the requirements of the three UN drug conventions, to which it is a party through the NDPS Act of 1988, though India has yet to meet the money laundering requirement of the 1988 UN Drug Convention.

The United States and India signed a mutual legal assistance treaty on October 17, 2001. The treaty will allow more efficient law enforcement and counter-terrorism cooperation between the two countries. An extradition treaty between the United States and India, which entered into force July 21, 1999, replaced the 1931 U.S.-UK Extradition Treaty, on which the United States and India previously had relied.. There are several U.S. extradition requests, submitted under both extradition treaties, that are currently pending in India courts.

In addition to being a signatory to the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Convention on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, India has entered into bilateral agreements with 13 countries for the sharing of strategic and operational intelligence. India holds regular meetings at various levels with drug enforcement organizations. During 2001, India also signed a memorandum of understanding and a bilateral agreement with Tajikistan.

Cultivation/Production. Small-scale illicit cultivation of opium has existed for years in areas of India's northeast, usually along the region's border with Burma and China. Cultivation in easily accessible areas of Mizoram and Manipur was successfully eliminated in the early and mid-1990s, although poppy cultivation is experiencing a recent revival in Manipur, according to CBN officials. The bulk of India's illicit cultivation is now confined to Arunachal Pradesh, the most remote of northeastern states, which has no airfields and few roads.

The CBN began organized poppy eradication campaigns in Arunachal Pradesh four years ago. In the first campaign, addressed to the 1997 opium crop, the CBN destroyed 35 hectares. This increased to 95 hectares in 1998, and 248 hectares in 1999. In 2000, 153 hectares were destroyed. In order to staff the force of 60 necessary for the annual eradication campaigns, ten CBN officers are assisted by customs officers from Shillong Customs Office. The Ministry of Finance provided the CBN with funds for fuel, camping gear, and stipends for this force. According to veterans of past eradication efforts, most of the illicit opium is grown to meet the needs of local addicts, a sizeable population. The CBN, however, is concerned that production is rising, with an increasing percentage used for commercial purposes, for sale locally or to heroin producers across the Burma border. Current rough estimates by the local drug control officials put opium cultivation in Arunachal Pradesh at 1,500 to 2,000 hectares. Estimates of opium gum yields are nonexistent, but CBN officials believe that the illicit production in Arunachal Pradesh yields at least eight kilograms per hectare.

Drug Flow/Transit. India is a transit area for heroin from Afghanistan and Pakistan and from Southeast Asia (Burma, Thailand, and Laos). Seizures in India of heroin from these two regions continue to provide evidence of India's transshipment role. Most heroin transiting India appears bound for Europe. Seizures of Southwest Asian heroin made at New Delhi and Mumbai airports reinforce this assessment. Increasingly significant seizures in the southern area of India, particularly in Tamil Nadu, confirm that smuggling of heroin from India to Sri Lanka continues unabated. There appears to be no significant level of heroin trafficking directly to the United States from India.

Domestic Programs (Demand Reduction). Reliable estimates of drug abuse in India are elusive. GOI and UN sources continue to cite a range of one to five million opium users and one million heroin addicts, though some NGOs working on drug abuse believe the true number of heroin addicts is much higher. Anecdotal reports from key drug abuse "hot spots" in northeast India and urban centers suggest that heroin abuse is increasing. In 1999, the UNDCP and the Ministry of Social Justice announced plans to conduct a joint survey of drug abuse nationwide, but this survey is now expected in early 2002. The UNDCP in 2000 embarked on two demand reduction projects in India. One targets northeastern India, where drug abuse rates and drug-related HIV/AIDS cases are the highest in India. A lack of international donor funding for these projects, however, has postponed their full implementation.

IV. U.S. Policy Initiatives and Programs

Bilateral Cooperation. The United States has a close and cooperative relationship with the GOI on counternarcotics issues. Drug control cooperation expanded in 2001, building on several new initiatives launched in 2000. The Department of State's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement provided increased commodities and training assistance to Indian drug enforcement agencies, with a $200,000 project signed with the Ministry of Finance in September 2000 followed by a FY 2001 project for $300,000 to be signed with the Ministry in early 2002. This assistance will boost the drug enforcement capacities of various Indian agencies, providing equipment to the 11 NCB zonal units operating throughout India and to the Mizoram state government to counter drug and chemical trafficking across that state's border with Burma. Cooperation between the DEA and Indian drug enforcement authorities is expanding, particularly in investigations into precursor chemicals smuggled from India to key drug production areas.

The Road Ahead. The GOI has tightened controls over licit opium cultivation and looks to increased U.S. cooperation for combating drug trafficking and narco-terrorism. The Ministry of Finance, the GOI lead for policy on drug control, is more actively shaping and coordinating drug control strategies among India's various drug enforcement agencies and will continue to be the United States' focal point for cooperative counternarcotics efforts. The GOI is increasingly concerned over the nexus between drug trafficking and terrorism. The GOI has recognized the need for stronger drug control efforts nationally, but in the northeast in particular. The United States will continue to explore opportunities to work with the GOI in addressing drug trafficking and production and other transnational crimes of common concern.

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