DRI Concerned over Smuggling of Wildlife Products, Drugs through Northeast

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), in its Smuggling in India report 2023-24, has thrown light on the menace of drugs and illegal wildlife products being smuggled through the Northeast, where the porous borders with the neighbouring countries like Myanmar facilitate the movement of banned items.

From the forests of Assam to the bustling outskirts of Bengaluru, DRI has been at the forefront of seizing illegal wildlife products, particularly elephant tusks, and apprehending the smugglers behind these operations. DRI’s success in intercepting elephant tusks and wildlife products lies in its ability to gather actionable intelligence and conduct strategic operations. Every bust involves thorough planning.

In most cases, once the initial seizure is made, the tusks and arrested individuals are handed over to the Forest Department for further investigation and prosecution under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

In one instance on December 9, 2023, DRI carried out a significant operation, intercepting two members of a wildlife smuggling syndicate at New Jalpaiguri Railway Station. Acting on specific intelligence, the officers targeted the individuals who were travelling on the 12423 Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express from Assam to Varanasi. Upon searching their belongings, three cut pieces of elephant tusk, weighing a total of 7.32 kg, were discovered. A WCCB official confirmed that the tusks were from the endangered Asiatic elephant, listed under Appendix I of CITES and protected by Indian law. The smugglers revealed their plan to traffic the tusk pieces into Nepal via Varanasi. The contraband was seized, and the two individuals were arrested on December 10, 2023, and remanded to judicial custody.

Again on December 22, 2023, DRI conducted a successful undercover operation, intercepting a Maruti Alto on the outskirts of Guwahati. Acting on a tip-off about illegal wildlife trading, the officers recovered two elephant tusks, weighing 8.75 kg, concealed in jute bags.

Three individuals, including the driver, were apprehended at the scene.

A major concern for DRI is the so-called Death Triangle, encompassing Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand, which is a significant source of synthetic drugs and heroin. Drugs from this region often enter India through the northeastern states, where difficult terrain and porous borders make trafficking easier at multiple entry points.

Proximity to opium-growing countries and clandestine laboratories for further processing aids in the trafficking of heroin through various routes into India, particularly the northeast.

Synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine, MDMA, and NPS are increasingly smuggled into India through the northeastern land border.

Most of the heroin seizures made by DRI during the last year involved trafficking through air routes via African countries and land routes through the porous northeastern borders.

DRI has also made significant seizures of heroin smuggled from the Indo-Myanmar border.

For instance, on December 8, 2023, DRI seized 8.94 kg of heroin, ingeniously concealed inside a vehicle, on the Kohima-Dimapur highway. The increase in heroin seizures via the Indo-Myanmar route resonates with the rise in heroin production in Myanmar, as reported by the World Drug Report 2024.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, as the DRI report includes information on seizures made during 2023-24. The issue of smuggling of wildlife products and drugs has been a major concern for years and is not likely to end soon.

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