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Indian enforcement agencies need to scrutinise the growing cocaine seizures, very deeply, for the West Asian connection, due to the large number of expatriates there and their frequent travels and investments in real estate, liquor and entertainment industry in India
As the global demand for cocaine and other synthetic drugs is on the rise, drug cartels in Mexico, such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), are creating a global network of criminal enterprises to control the global drug trade. (Representational pic: X/@sanghaviharsh)
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on October 29 revealed that it had busted a clandestine methamphetamine manufacturing laboratory with links to a major Mexican drug cartel operating out of an industrial area in Greater Noida and arrested five people, including a Mexican national sent by the cartel – Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, who was arrested along with a Mumbai-based chemist, and a Tihar jail warder. The arrested Mexican national was sent to India to set up the factory and ensure the purity of the manufactured drug before exporting it. He had come to India on a tourist visa earlier this year and was living on rent at a housing society in Noida. NCB conducted a search operation in a factory in Kasana Industrial Area, Gautam Budh Nagar district, on October 25, 2024, and found about 95 kg of methamphetamine in solid and liquid forms. Chemicals like acetone, sodium hydroxide, methylene chloride, premium grade ethanol, toluene, red phosphorus, ethyl acetate, etc, and imported machinery for manufacturing were also found.
As the global demand for cocaine and other synthetic drugs is on the rise, drug cartels in Mexico, such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), are creating a global network of criminal enterprises to control the global drug trade. As a response, some US lawmakers have called for a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation of the Mexican drug cartels.
This tectonic shift to global distribution is creating an international network of suppliers, distributors, and buyers requiring cooperation between criminal enterprises reaching Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Mexico’s crime organisations use the same strategies as every other business- profit maximisation, outsourcing to specialists, and adapting constantly to changing international regulations. Hence, more cocaine than ever is entering European markets, which has led to the establishment of operations in countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and Spain. To increase efficiency, the cartels have recruited personnel into European criminal networks to assist in their illegal operations. These include providing facilitators such as brokers to provide shipping and transportation services, laboratory specialists to educate other criminal organisations on “cooking” meth and fentanyl, envoys of corrupt officials, and even money laundering service providers. These networks are known to traffic both methamphetamine and cocaine to EU ports for further distribution within the EU or to transit the drugs to more lucrative markets such as Asia and Oceania. This explains the massive rise in cocaine seizures across India.
According to the website of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the United States, Cartel De Jalisco Nueva Generación is one of the five most dangerous transnational criminal organisations in the world and is responsible for trafficking tonnes of cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl-laced heroin into the US. The cartel’s kingpin, Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, also known as El Mencho, is one of the most wanted men in the US, carrying a reward of $10 million on his arrest. The federal agency is now probing the gang’s linkages, financial trail and assets generated.
In India, this is the sixth such laboratory busted by the NCB in 2024. Officials believe the drugs mafia had started setting up such clandestine labs to produce synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine and mephedrone in industrial areas so that local law enforcement agencies do not get alerted on account of transportation of material and machinery, waste generated from the laboratories and toxic fumes from the chimneys. The other five raids were in Gandhinagar and Amreli in Gujarat, Jodhpur and Sirohi in Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal. The Bhopal operation yielded over 900 kg of mephedrone in solid and liquid forms, as well as a frightening 7,000 kg of various chemicals and drug-making machinery.
Recently, over 500 kg of cocaine worth Rs 5,000 crore was recovered from southwest Delhi’s Mahipalpur, followed by the seizure of 200 kg of the same drug, valued at Rs 2,080 crore from a rented shop in south Delhi. The cartel behind Delhi’s biggest drug busts totalling over Rs 7,000 crore combined low-tech methods as well as modern ones to avoid detection and ensure that the consignments reached only the intended recipients, mixing the use of torn notes and code words with encrypted messaging apps.
Employing old-school methods, often shown in films as well, the cartel used code words while delivering the consignment and also handed the person making the delivery as well as the receiver parts of a currency note which was torn where the numbers are printed. Both people knew the full number of the note and the handover was done only after the torn pieces reflected that figure when they were put together. On the other end of the spectrum, the members of the group also used paid encrypted messaging apps to speak to each other to avoid being snooped on by agencies.
Mexican drug trafficking organisations (DTOs)—sometimes referred to as transnational criminal organisations—dominate the import and distribution of cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine across the globe.
India has to closely watch the cocaine trafficking emanating from Turkey. Western Asia has long been a hotbed for various illicit drugs, including hashish, methamphetamine and captagon. Cocaine, by contrast, has not gained a foothold in the region, despite an increase in supply and demand worldwide. However, in recent years, there have been signs that Turkey may be becoming the next key cocaine transit hub. The amount of cocaine seized in that country increased from 393 kilograms in 2014 to nearly three tonnes in 2021, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC). Although Turkish officials reported a 44 per cent increase in cocaine seizures between 2021 and 2022, data on domestic consumption did not show a parallel increase, suggesting that the country is likely being used as a drug corridor. The re-election in May 2023 of President Erdogan, whose political circle has been reportedly marred by corruption cases and scandals linked to the cocaine trade, suggests that the country’s suspected role as a cocaine corridor is unlikely to diminish any time soon.
Also of concern should be that in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), cocaine has become the drug of choice among some local and expatriate communities, of which Indians constitute a major chunk. Western Asia also appears to afford drug criminals some protection. Gulf states have become safe havens for some of the world’s most notorious cocaine criminals, including members of the Dutch Mocro mafia, leaders of the Irish Kinahan cartel, and Balkan criminals. These individuals escape prosecution in their home countries and get opportunities for freedom and protection in the Gulf states.
As the Gulf experiences an influx of cocaine, it is also witnessing the inflow of illicit proceeds from the drug trade. Unexplained massive currency inflows, entering the region from abroad have drawn significant scrutiny from the international community, resulting in the UAE being placed on the Financial Action Task Force’s Grey Money List in 2022. The real-estate boom in Dubai in recent years has been linked to the influx of illicit funds derived from the drug trade and other illicit activities. As Western Asia finds its position in the global cocaine market strengthening, it is critical to understand its role as a haven for the world’s cocaine kingpins and the involvement of its criminal groups abroad. Indian enforcement agencies need to scrutinise the growing cocaine seizures, very deeply, for the West Asian connection, due to the large number of expatriates there and their frequent travels and investments in real estate, liquor and entertainment industry in India. This would also mean an expanding role for the Enforcement Directorate, in the coming days.
The writer is a retired officer of the IRS and the former director-general of the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes & Narcotics. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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November 01, 2024, 16:51 IST
News opinion Opinion | Mexican Drug Cartels Gaining Foothold In India Should Ring Alarm Bells