With
the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) cracking down on courier companies
delivering parcels without checking, drug peddlers and dealers have
begun to turn to the postal service to send the contraband.
"Of late, a trend has emerged that the peddlers and dealers send their contraband through
post offices. To evade the law enforcement agencies dealers bring huge
quantity of contraband to Mumbai and send them to other places through
EMS speed post," a senior NCB official said, requesting anonymity.The
NCB has already apprised the Department of Post about the abuse of its
service by drug pushers urging its top officials to evolve some
foolproof mechanism to detect and track those abusing the service, the
official told PTI.
The
official said the main reason in shift of modus operandi is that unlike
private couriers the postal service does not follow strict Know Your
Customer (KYC) norms. "Also these private companies follow strict
frisking policy", the official said.He
said the EMS (Emergency Mail Service) sends its delivery to 88
countries directly and for many other destinations they use the
"world-wide network"."There
have also been cases that the contraband has been detected after the
parcel is shifted from the EMS to the world-wide network," the NCB
official said.
There
are many reasons why the EMS is preferred by the drug pushers over
private couriers since it requires less documentation, no verification,
comparatively cheaper and easy to go.Seeking
to curb the drug peddlers using the postal services, the NCB has
apprised the department of the matter and already had a few meetings
with them.
"We
believe that postal department is working on it. We have imparted
training to courier companies and other government agencies in dealing
with contraband and expect postal department will follow suit. Several
awareness programmes in this connection are also being undertaken," he
added.In
2014, NCB arrested 10 Indians and 7 foreign nationals and recovered
around 129.3 kg of contraband and in 2015 (till May), the agency has
apprehended 14 Indians and 1 foreign national and seized around 40 kg of
contraband.
"However
unclaimed seizure has nearly doubled. In 2014 the agency seized 9.9 kg
of contraband while in 2015 (till May) the seizure has already been
doubled," he added.
