DRUG TRAFFICKERS TURN TO POSTAL SYSTEM

By P. Vijian

NEW DELHI, Feb 19 (Bernama) -- International drug traffickers are
increasingly spending more time at the post office.

It has nothing to do with a sudden interest in first-day covers or sending
greeting cards to loved ones.

To avoid the police radar, these traffickers have begun to rely on the
postal service to smuggle drugs across borders, especially in Asia, according to
aleading United Nations agency.

In its 2008 Annual Report, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC) said this modus operandi was becoming rampant, noting that only
cross-border cooperation could help curb this trend.

"The national authorities of theses countries in East and Southeast Asia
continue to report significant seizures of drugs through the postal system.

"Large amounts of benzodiazepines (psycho stimulant drugs) and cannabis
(ganja) were seized, but the most often seized drug was metamphetamine," said
the report, released by UNODC in Delhi Thursday.

Cases of illicit drugs being smuggled via the postal system have been
exposed in countries like Thailand, South Korea and China, from where they were
sent to buyers in the United States and Canada.

"Drug menace is a global problem and we need global response to tackle this.
Greater investments in prevention, especially for youth and vulnerable groups,
is needed," Rajiv Walia, UNODC regional programme coordinator said at the
launch.

The report said most drugs seized in Southeast Asia region were found in
shipments, and air passengers.

Besides heroin, ketamine was the most widely abused drug in the region.

Illicit poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, which supplies 90 per cent of the
world's opium, dropped by 19 per cent from its record level of 193,000 hectares
in 2007 to 157,000 hectares last year, said the report.
-- BERNAMA