Involvement in drug trafficking could hardly be part of the war the naxalite groups claim to be waging, but that’s exactly what intelligence reports indicate.
NEW DELHI: Involvement in drug trafficking could hardly be part of people’s war that the naxalite groups claim to be waging, but that’s exactly what recent intelligence reports indicate.
In the last monthly review of naxalism and other security-related matters in the Ministry of Home Affairs, there were reports indicating that the umbrella Maoist organisation, which India naxal groups had merged into, was involved in illicit narcotic trade.
The link between drugs and terrorism has been reported since 1980s in India, drug trafficking serving as a lucrative source for raising money for armaments and use by terrorists themselves. Intelligence reports indicate naxalite groups in India are the latest entrants to narco-terrorism.
The merger of naxal groups to form Communist Party of India (Maoist) last year and its linkage with the Nepalese counterpart was a key factor in this. According to intelligence reports, the Nepal Maoists were smuggling heroin and hashish to obtain sophisticated weapons through the now famous weapons/drug route from Southeast Asia to Bangladesh, onto Assam, West Bengal and Nepal.
The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report released earlier this year said the guerrillas were involved in smuggling drugs to India in the absence of laws in Nepal to crack down on drug-related corruption. The report, quoting Nepal police, said cannabis production was growing in the southern areas of the country, adjacent to the border with India, and most of the crop was sent to the Indian market. Reports also indicate that illicit cultivation of opium poppy was also on the rise in Nepal, a phenomenon attributed to the Maoists.
Maoist sympathisers insist that the rebels do not use drug money to bankroll their operations. Though they have imposed a ban on the use of alcohol in areas under their control, the Maoist leadership has said nothing about cannabis cultivation and production that go on unhindered in the same region.
Security agencies of the two countries have decided on joint patrolling in border areas and sealing of the border, particularly during the last two phases of elections to state Assembly in Bihar. To strengthen the security apparatus in the region, the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) has been asked to identify infrastructural development steps required in the area. While enabling better patrolling, such steps are also expected to provide some employment and encourage economic development.
It is the more backward regions of the country - the tribal and forest areas - that have come under the growing influence of naxalites.
To be concluded on Thursday
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