Drug trafficking is not a standalone crime and has a wide ecosystem supporting it or even flourishing under its shadow. Faster modes of communication and difficult terrains, coupled with thin resources for enforcement and prevention make inter-agency cooperation within the state and international cooperation imperative. For many years, drug trafficking in South Asia has been the most lucrative form of business for criminals. Drug markets have evolved, and the region is now witnessing challenges such as bulk trafficking in heroin, rise in methamphetamine manufacturing and trafficking, diversion of controlled substances from licit to illicit channels, smuggling of pharmaceutical preparations containing narcotic and psychotropic substances, and inadequate coordination between various drug enforcement agencies in the region.
South Asia is situated in the neighbourhood of one of the major opium-cultivating regions in the world and sandwiched between two of the world's largest heroin producing areas: the one comprising illicit opium production areas in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan (“Crescent”) and the second largest opium production region in the world, covering Myanmar, Thailand and Laos (“Triangle”).
Dismantling trafficking networks within the region requires strong and efficient drug law enforcement strategies, including enhanced inter-agency cooperation within a country as well as with agencies across borders and regions.
In order to achieve this, the Governments need to have adequate legislations in line with the UN Conventions. The related UN Conventions are, the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances 1971 and the Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 1988.
UNODC collects analyzes and reports data on drug trafficking trends including - arrest, seizures, price and purity of illicit drugs submitted by the Member States through the Annual Reports Questionnaires (ARQ). By the same mechanism it also collects and reports data on illicit manufacture of controlled substances including data on clandestine laboratories. In addition, UNODC collects and reports data on significant individual drug seizures as reported by Member States. UNODC also supports Member States in developing capacity to collect internationally comparable data on drug trafficking.
Find out more: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/drug-production-and-trafficking.html
