Date:26/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/26/stories/2008012653150300.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Close watch on sea coast

Staff Reporter

Threat of opium smuggling

Kakinada: The Customs Department foresees a threat of smuggling of opium in this region with the uninhabited Hope Island as the base due to the increase in production in the Golden Triangle that comprises Laos, Thailand and Myanmar and the Golden Crescent which overlaps Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.

Accordingly, a close watch is kept on the sea coast between Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts from where not just opium, which has some therapeutic properties, but other narcotic substances could find their way into India, said Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise (Visakhapatnam) P. Nageswara Rao.

Addressing Customs officials here on the eve of the International Customs Day on Friday, Mr. Nageswara Rao said this year’s theme was ‘Illicit trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances’ which runs a parallel economy and has debilitating impact on the lives of those addicted to intoxicants.

That was the reason for laying greater emphasis on curbing the production and sale of hazardous chemicals like opium.

Duty collection

Mr. Nageswara Rao said that Kakinada Customs House was older than the one at Visakhapatnam but its contribution to the customs duty collection was well below the benchmark as the trade had not grown at the desired level despite having one of the oldest seaports and the Cocanada Chamber of Commerce which started functioning just a year after the first Indian War of Independence (Sepoy Mutiny, 1857).