Manipur drug haul meant to make yaba pills
Source: The Sangai Express / Courtesy Hindustan Times

New Delhi, March 06 2013: It goes by various names: yaba, ice, crystal, speed.

The name may sound cool, what the yaba drug does in anything but cool.

The about Rs.24 crore worth of drugs seized on February 24 in Manipur's Pallel was meant for making yaba pills with indications that the haul may be just the tip of the iceberg, if one goes by the latest report of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) 2012 that was released on Tuesday.

Large-scale smuggling of such drugs from India to Myanmar and Bangladesh has been an open secret in recent times with the smugglers ranging from the men in uniform to insurgent groups and other influential individuals in this militancy-prone stretch.

In the Manipur incident, an army PRO Colonel Ajay Chaudhury and five others were arrested when they were on their way to the border town of Moreh allegedly transporting the illicit drugs in three vehicles ostensibly for further processing at the small clandestine factories along the border in Myanmar.

The seized drugs largely comprised anti-cold strips of Actidin, Respifed, Omkop, Hilcold and Polyfed, which contain the chemicals ephedrine and pseudoephidrine.

These chemicals are easily extracted and mixed with other ingredients like salt, household cleaning products, and lithium from batteries to produce 'yaba' tablets.

First used by Nazis to induce sleeplessness among the soldiers, this pill is getting increasingly popular worldwide but particularly in South and East Asia with the point of origin being Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia.

The INCB 2012 report has identified India as one of the world's biggest sources of precursors of amphetamine-type stimulants, in particular ephedrine and pseudoephidrine.

The report points out at pharmacies as being one of the key sources where the diversion occurs and blames lack of qualified pharmacists and weak laws for the diversion.

In 2011, Indian authorities seized 7.2 tons of ephidrine and pseudoephidrine followed by 2.3 tons in just the first six months of 2012 .

From November 2011 to the end of June 2012, over 30 million tablets containing ephedrine and pseudoephidrine have been seized, of which 13 million were destined for Myanmar for making 'yaba' .

In Bangladesh too, the 'yaba' is spreading from urban to rural areas with the drug abuse particularly increasing among street children.

According to drug control authorities, from 2007-2010, illicit trafficking and abuse of 'yaba' has increased almost forty times in Bangladesh.

Comment