DRAFT COUNTRY PROFILE 1998
OF ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN
I. Production and Cultivation
1. Opium
Pakistan is a significant producer and transit country for opiates and cannabis products. Pakistan needs anything between 600 to 800 tons of poppy or 60 to 80 tons of heroin to feed its own drug addicts. Considerable amount of Afghan opiates and cannabis are either consumed in Pakistan by a significant drug-user population, or transit the country on their way to world markets.(1)
Trends on cultivation and production in
Pakistan showed a significant decrease in recent years but reflected a slight
increase in 1998. The total area under illicit opium poppy cultivation in
Pakistan in 1998 is estimated at around 950 hectares, capable of producing 34
tons of opium.(2) Illicit poppy is cultivated in Dir, Bajaur and Mohmand
provinces of Pakistan.(3) Additionaly, the average country-wide yield in
Pakistan, which was estimated at 20-22 kg/ha on average, has risen to 27-28
kg/ha since 1996.(4) Today, Afghanistan and, to a lesser degree, Pakistan are
seriously effected by a large scale illicit production of opium.(5) The
Government of Pakistan announced its intention to put an end to illegal
plantations of opium poppy in the country by the year 2000 with the help of the
international community. It is expected that in 1999 it will fall to 5-10 tons.
2.
Heroin
The heroin production in
Pakistan and Afghanistan dates back to the late 1970’s. Since 1979 scores of
laboratories have been churning out of tons of heroin along the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border area, particularly in the Agencies of Khyber and
Mohmand. Today, the region comprising Afghanistan and the Northwest Frontier
tribal areas of Pakistan constitute an important source of illicit traffic in
opiates. Despite eradication and crop-substitution programmes, illicit
production in the region remains high and was estimated at 25 tons in 1998 (30
tons in 1997).(7)
The
heroin laboratories are located mainly on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan
where effective law enforcement is difficult due to the inaccessibility of the
terrain, armed conflicts, population movements, etc. An appreciable part of
their produce is routed to Europe through Iran, Turkey and the so-called Balkan
countries.(6) According to Pakistani Anti-Narcotics Force, all the illicit
manufacture of heroin, which formerly occurred in tribal areas of the Northwest
Frontier Province have shifted completely from Pakistan to Afghanistan and now
exist mostly in the Naugarhar and Hellmand provinces close to border with
Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.(8)
3.
Cannabis
In the Near and Middle East region the leading producer countries are Afghanistan and Pakistan. Like heroin, a considerable part of the Afghan cannabis resin also transits Pakistan for smuggling to India, Europe and North America.(9) Cannabis is illicitly cultivated or grows wild on extensive areas in Pakistan (in the Tribal Areas). No cannabis eradication has been reported to have been undertaken in the country. The number of cannabis seizures made by the Government of Pakistan continues to be high.(10)
In addition to the “western” direction via the Islamic Republics of Iran-Pakistan and Afghanistan-Iran with opium and morphine base as the main drug trafficked, the “southern and eastern directions” across Pakistan is extensively used for drug trafficking, particularly by use of air and sea routes. Karachi remains the principal sea/airport for the smuggling of heroin originating from the Afghanistan/Pakistan border area and mainly destined for Europe, whether directly or via African seaports and airports. Some is also routed to India and it’s neighboring countries. Chemicals, which are used in illicit heroin manufacturing in Afghanistan, often routed through Pakistan, which mainly originate from the European countries but also China and India. Afghan-Pakistan cannabis usually collected in the tribal areas of Pakistan, is driven to the coast at Mekran, Balouchistan, where it is loaded on boats leaving for Europe, North America and Australia.
Aggressive
enforcement measures by Pakistan have led to a considerable decrease in the
amount of narcotics being transported across Pakistan’s territory.
1. Country
anti-narcotic actions:
(i)
A five years Drug Abuse Control Master Plan (1998-2003) with an outlay of
Rs.2,8 billion has been formulated by the Government of Pakistan. It covers the
entity of existing and perspective planning in key areas of enforcement,
legislation, administration and policy etc. with highest priority accorded to
demand reduction and forfeiture of illicit assets.
(ii)
Educative and preventive measures taken by the Anti-Narcotics of Pakistan
at the Haji Camps and Airport Terminals have born results and no Pakistanis
pilgrim was found carrying drug in 1998.
(iii)
In year 1998 the overall responsibility of the conduct/extension of the
CD operation was assigned to the newly formed Special Investigation Cell (SIC).
In that year the majority of CD operations were conducted with the assistance of
British Drug Liaison Officers. For the first time two different gangs were
busted in Kazakhstan and India with the assistance of British DLOs. As a result
of one of the CD operations which was for the first time conducted in
collaboration with Saudi anti-narcotics forces a big gang involved in the
illicit export of drugs to different countries has been unearthed.
(iv)
On the request of the British Government Pakistan allowed export of 5 kg
of heroin from Afghanistan under a Controlled Delivery operation across Pakistan
territory into India, in order to help Indian authorities expose and arrest a
major heroin traffickers gang in India.
(v)
11 training courses (228 participants) for the personnel of various law
enforcement agencies of Pakistan and other foreign countries have been organized
by the Advanced Narcotics Enforcement School in Islamabad in 1998.
2.
Drugs seized by Pakistani law
enforcement agencies in 1998:
|
Opium (kgs) |
Heroin (kgs) |
Hashish (kgs) |
Acetic anhydride (ltrs) |
|
5022,000 |
3364,000 |
65909,000 |
10000,011 |
254 foreign nationals have been detained in 1998. The total amount of
drugs recovered from them was 61,200 kg of opium, 164,095 kg heroin, 2023,043 kg
of hashish and 11,112 liters of Acetic anhydride of Indian origin.
III.
Bilateral/Multilateral Cooperation
1.
International
Initiatives:
a.
UNDCP sponsored Pak-Iran border electronic monitoring project aimed to
check flow of narcotics across Pak-Iran border. Proposed to be extended to
Afghan border.
b.
Drug Law Enforcement Programme (1999 – 2001) of $ 5.25 million has been
planned between the UNDCP and Government of Pakistan to strengthen the drug law
enforcement capacity to reduce drug trafficking in Pakistan and in the region.
The programme is part of an ongoing effort to strengthen the drug law
enforcement capacity of countries surrounding Afghanistan.
2. Bilateral
Cooperation: