Courier and postal services have become common means of smuggling narcotic drugs from India which is also being used as a transit point for heroin consignments,an international narcotics watchdog has said in its latest report released on Wednesday. The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) also noted that India is increasingly becoming a main source of drugs abuse in various countries through "illegal" internet pharmacies. The majority of clandestine shipments of controlled substances detected in India were found to be destined for Australia and countries in North America and Europe,it said. "India has become one of the main sources of drugs sold through illegally operating internet pharmacies.Orders placed with such internet pharmacies are often dispatched to buyers in other countries using courier or postal services," INCB said in its report. The heroin that enters India is abused locally or is smuggled out of the country by couriers,INCB noted and added,"that is an indication that India is being used as a transit area for heroin consignments." In recent years,heroin and diazepam have been the drugs most frequently found in seized parcels,while morphine,cannabis herbs,canabis resin,epherdrine and pseudoephedrine have been seized occasionally. INCB said that a wide spread abuse of pharmaceutical preparations containing narcotic drugs such as codeine is an ongoing problem in Bangladesh and "such preparataions are smuggled into that country from India".
