Explain how narco-terrorism has emerged as a serious threat across the country. Suggest suitable measures…

Question

Explain how narco-terrorism has emerged as a serious threat across the country. Suggest suitable measures to counter narco-terrorism.

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Narco-terrorism has become a nationwide threat because India sits between the Golden Crescent and Golden Triangle, and drug profits moved by drones, sea routes and darknet sales now fund terror groups. The NIA traced 532 kg of heroin seized at Attari in 2019 to Hizbul Mujahideen.

**Introduction**

Narco-terrorism is the use of drug-trafficking networks and profits to finance terror. The 2021 seizure of about 3,000 kg of Afghan heroin at Gujarat's Mundra port, probed by the NIA, showed the threat has spread from the Punjab border to India's ports and cities.

**How Narco-Terrorism Became a Nationwide Threat**

SKETCH: flow | How Drugs Fund Terror
- Crescent and Triangle opium
- Drone, sea, land routes
- Sale to Indian users
- Hawala and crypto proceeds
- Terror arms and recruits

1. **Geographic squeeze**: India lies between the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle, and Myanmar became the world's largest opium producer in 2023 (UNODC), feeding routes into Manipur and Mizoram.
2. **Cheap proxy funding**: In the 2019 Attari case, 532 kg of heroin hidden in Pakistani rock salt was traced by the NIA to proceeds reaching Hizbul Mujahideen.
3. **New routes, wider market**: Drones drop heroin with pistols in Punjab, the Coast Guard seized over five tonnes of methamphetamine off the Andamans in November 2024, and darknet sales reach users from Punjab to Kerala.

**Measures to Counter Narco-Terrorism**

1. **Follow the money**: Combine the NDPS Act 1985 and PIT-NDPS with UAPA, and attach drug proceeds under the PMLA.
2. **Unified intelligence**: Link the four-tier NCORD mechanism, the NIDAAN database and state Anti-Narcotics Task Forces with the NIA and NATGRID.
3. **Border and sea shield**: Deploy DRDO's D4 anti-drone system in Punjab, complete CIBMS smart fencing and repeat joint drives like Operation Sagar Manthan (2024).
4. **Demand and diplomacy**: Scale the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan and the MANAS 1933 helpline, and work through UNODC and BIMSTEC against Golden Triangle laboratories.

**Conclusion**

Narco-terrorism must be fought as one chain from the poppy field to the terror cell. Pairing hard enforcement with demand reduction can starve terror of its cheapest fuel and strengthen comprehensive national security.

Explain how narco-terrorism has emerged as a serious threat across the country. Suggest suitable measures to counter narco-terrorism.

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