Chapter 5 OVERVIEW OF PRECURSOR CONTROL IN INDIA

Chapter 5
OVERVIEW OF PRECURSOR CONTROL IN INDIA
Some drugs of abuse are produced from plants and are called natural drugs. There are three main species of plants from which drugs are produced.

The first of these, opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), is the source of opium. Opium is a natural drug which, acting on the central nervous system, has a depressant effect. The seeds of this plant, called poppy [gasaalu in Telugu] are used as a condiment in South Asian cooking.
Cannabis is the second drug producing plant. The flowering tops of this plant are called ganja while the resin derived by crushing the plant is known as hashish or charas. Like opium, cannabis is a natural drug.
The third drug producing plant, the coca plant, grows in South and Central America. Coca leaves and coca paste are natural drugs derived from this plant.

These natural drugs can be processed to isolate the active ingredient, i.e., the psychoactive substance in the natural drug that actually produces the effect on the user. Such active ingredients can also be modified chemically to make them more potent. The active ingredients so isolated or their chemically modified forms are known as semi-synthetic drugs. For instance, morphine and codeine are active ingredients isolated from opium. If morphine is chemically combined with acetic anhydride, we get diacetylmorphine also known as heroin. Morphine, codeine and heroin are semi synthetic drugs produced from opium while cocaine is a semi-synthetic drug produced from coca.

There is a third category of drugs known as synthetic drugs. These are produced solely through chemical reactions. Diazepam, methaqualone (commonly called as mandrax), amphetamine-type stimulants such as amphetamine and MDMA (commonly known as ecstasy) are examples of synthetic drugs.

The majority of the drugs of abuse are either semi-synthetic or synthetic by nature. One of the techniques of containing them is curbing their production by denying illicit drug manufacturers access to the chemicals required to manufacture drugs. Such chemicals are widely referred to as precursors. Precursors are legitimate chemicals with uses in industry, medicine, research, etc. and are legally produced. Illicit drug manufacturers divert them from legitimate trade and industry and use them to produce illicit drugs. The job of enforcement officers is to stop this diversion without impeding the normal legitimate trade. Precursor control is thus a strategy to reduce the availability of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances by preventing illicit drug manufacturers from obtaining the chemicals they require for such manufacture.
There are hundreds of synthetic and semi-synthetic drugs of abuse. In order to produce each of them, one requires precursors. If we try to control all these precursors, our job becomes unwieldy; our efforts will be spread too thin, over too many chemicals, rendering controls ineffective. We must, therefore, identify a few key precursors and control them. For instance, we can identify the most widely abused semi-synthetic and synthetic drugs and then identify the precursors most critical to their manufacture. Since precursors are often trafficked across the borders, there should be harmony between the laws of different countries both in terms of which precursors are controlled and what kinds of controls are imposed on them.
There are 5 precursor chemicals identified for control in India.

Chapter 6
DIVERSION AND PREVENTION:

we will examine the various methods that traffickers employ to divert precursors and the techniques through which we can counter them under the following five sub-headings:
✦ Methods of diversion
✦ Intelligence collection
✦ Investigation
✦ Role of different agencies in preventing diversions
✦ International operations

Methods of diversion
Precursors can be diverted from any stage in the course of legitimate trade. Some possible points of diversion are:
✦ From the place of manufacture
✦ At the point of sale
✦ During transportation
✦ During importation
✦ During exportation
✦ During use or consumption
✦ During re-cycling
✦ During destruction of seized precursors.

Traffickers employ a variety of techniques to divert precursors, including the following:
a) Under-reporting production and clandestinely removing the remaining precursor: The manufacturer of the precursor enters only part of the production in his records and diverts the rest to illicit trade and sells it at a much higher price. The manufacturer also generates more profits by evading excise duty and other taxes.
b) Theft during transportation: Criminals steal precursors in small quantities from tankers and trucks with the connivance of drivers. The quantity of precursors pilfered from each tanker or truck is so small that it can easily go undetected. But traffickers often accumulate significant quantities of precursors through repeated pilferage. In South Asia, this method has often been used to divert acetic anhydride.
c) False reporting of leakage: The consignor sends a false report stating that the tanker leaked in transit and a significant quantity of precursor was lost. The precursor is meanwhile diverted into illicit channels.
d) Misdeclaration of description: In many countries, one needs a licence to import or export precursors. Such consignments are also subjected to more intensive checks by customs services. Traffickers export the consignment of precursor chemical wrongly declaring it as a consignment of some other commodity to bypass both licensing requirements and rigorous checks. Through this method nine tons of acetic anhydride was successfully exported from India to Dubai by declaring the consignment of chemicals as consignment of acid for pickles. The diverted acetic anhydride was sufficient to produce 3.6 tons of heroin.
e) Forged no objection certificates (NOCs) or import and export permits: Traffickers place an order for the import of a precursor along with a forged import permit and if the authorities in the exporting country do not detect the forgery, a huge consignment is available for diversion.
f) Manipulation of the quantity in the NOC or import or export licence: This involves taking a genuine license and inserting a zero in the quantity descriptor. A Mumbai-based exporter once presented an NOC from the competent authority of the importing country to export 2 million ephedrine tablets to Trinidad and Tobago. When an enquiry was conducted, it was confirmed that the actual quantity permitted in the NOC was only two hundred thousand ephedrine tablets.
The difference of one million eight hundred thousand tablets could have been easily used to produce methamphetamine.
g) Orders placed using the names of nonexistent firms: If you succeed, the entire consignment is available for illicit trade. If the authorities find out, there is very little chance of being caught.
Alternatively, using the name of a bona fide company but inserting a false contact address with false telephone and fax numbers makes it easy to import. When the time for delivery comes, traffickers ask the transporter to deliver the consignment at a different address citing some place with storage provision.
h) Conceal orders for precursors amongst innocuous chemicals: They begin with placing orders for small quantities of precursors and often conceal the true order for precursors amongst a list of innocuous or harmless chemicals and other materials.

Intelligence collection
Intelligence, by definition, is foreknowledge - knowing all that you need to know beforehand. Since precursors are legitimate substances with a variety of legal uses, it is extremely difficult to detect diversion and trafficking without intelligence. To gather intelligence we need to concentrate our efforts at possible stages of diversion such as place of manufacture, sale and transportation. There are two methods of collecting intelligence - overt or open and covert or secret.

Overt or open methods
The overt or open method refers to the collection of information regarding a possible diversion from secondary sources like newspapers, books, and technical publications as well as data from other government sources or other bodies. The data so gathered when put through the “intelligence mill", may provide extremely useful pointers that enable the enforcement officers to decide where to concentrate their efforts. Often referred to as profiling, this helps identify the most likely suspicious consignments of precursors passing through the international trade.
Profiling starts off with the systematic analysis of past cases to determine the characteristics of a typical suspect consignment or trafficker. By examining such characteristics carefully, we can zero in on suspect consignments and traffickers.

A few pointers could be:
Destination of the goods
A consignment of precursors destined to a border area adjoining a country known for illicit manufacture of drugs runs a high risk of being smuggled to that adjoining country.
Change in custom house agent
If an exporter suddenly changes his custom house agent for exporting precursor chemicals, that would constitute a cause for suspicion.

First time orders should be subject to greater scrutiny.
✦ If the chemical is sold at a very high price compared with the prevailing market price, it requires a careful examination.
Unusual and special packaging of the chemical is another cause for suspicion.
✦ Similarly, incorrect or vague labelling is also a reasonable cause for suspicion.
✦ Bulky consignments of chemicals being sent by air should also be checked carefully since it does not make business sense to send such consignments by air.

Covert methods
Covert methods often provide direct, actionable intelligence. There are three primary covert methods: informers, surveillance and undercover operations.
Informers are persons with inside information about an illicit activity who are willing to share it with the authorities for any of the variety of reasons including financial reward, recognition, revenge or thrill factor. In order to get information on diversion of precursors, informers should be cultivated in places such as factories manufacturing precursor chemicals, associations of brokers and transport agencies used by such companies. Informers can also be cultivated among truck drivers engaged in the transportation of precursors, among custom house agents, forwarding agents, in inspection agencies or in the offices of port / airport authorities. Other places to cultivate informers are chambers of commerce and also in shipping lines or airlines and in roadside restaurants. You may wonder why roadside restaurants? Roadside restaurants often act as collection points for the precursors pilfered by truck drivers. From these restaurants, the precursors are sent to illicit drug manufacturers through intermediaries.
The second covert method - surveillance - is of two types; physical and electronic. Physical surveillance consists of keeping a discrete watch over places and persons, where as electronic surveillance comprises telephone intercepts, GPS-based satellite tracking, etc. Interception of telephones, when permitted legally, can be extremely useful in identifying and preventing diversions. Satellite tracking devices are extremely useful to monitor international movement of suspect consignments. Finally, undercover operations, including the infiltration of networks by agents or the conducting controlled deliveries, provide a useful source of intelligence and can be orientated directly for a prosecution in a court of law or in furthering investigations to learn more of the methods used by trafficking networks and those involved in the illicit activities.

Investigation
Factors that trigger investigations into cases of diversion:
a. Specific intelligence about diversion;
b. Follow-up into a detection and seizure at an illicit drug-manufacturing factory;
c. Investigations into shipments stopped in international trade as reasons exist to believe the order was an attempt to divert the precursors in question;
d. Follow-up into a case in some other country
In investigations into diversions of precursors from international trade, special attention should be paid to the following:
✦ Consignment
✦ Documents
✦ Statements
✦ Immediate follow up

Consignment
In the case of an export of precursor chemicals, the following should be checked:
✦ Does the exporting company actually exist?
✦ Is it registered for the purpose?✦ Is the ordered chemical consistent with the use for which it is specified?