Brussels, Feb 7 (IANS) Operations conducted by two law enforcement agencies thousands of kilometres apart — one in India’s Punjab, the other in Italy’s Terracina — provide a revealing insight into how modern organised crime operates across borders, jurisdictions and legal systems, a report has highlighted.
Highlighting the recently-signed European Union-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and mobility agreement, it detailed that India, Italy and Europe face a clear reality that border controls alone are insufficient, necessitating robust intelligence cooperation, financial tracking, monitoring of extremist funding, and coordinated action across source, transit and destination countries.
"In late January, Punjab Police seized 51.5 kilogrammes of heroin in Amritsar, dismantling a cross-border narcotics network linked to handlers operating from across the border in Pakistan. Just weeks earlier, in late December, Italy’s Guardia di Finanza in the province of Latina arrested an Indian Sikh, unlawfully residing in Italy, after seizing over 20 kilogrammes of opium poppy bulbs from a private residence in Terracina,” a report in the 'European Times' stated.
“Another 39-year-old Sikh Indian man was arrested in late January in Sabaudia for possession of 50 poppy bulbs, with a total weight of approximately 100 grams. Opium poppy bulbs can be consumed in various ways and have narcotic effects, often used to dull physical fatigue, a phenomenon frequently linked to labour exploitation in agricultural fields,” it stated.
According to the report, at first glance, the cases seem disconnected — different nations, different substances, different operational contexts. Taken together, however, they reveal the spectrum of the global narcotics economy, where production zones, transit corridors and destination markets increasingly converge, and where local crimes are linked to wider transnational ecosystems.
“Punjab has long been recognised as a frontline state in India’s fight against narcotics trafficking, particularly involving drugs originating from Pakistan. Its geography, proximity to an unstable border and history of smuggling routes have made it vulnerable to organised networks that combine local couriers with cross-border handlers, encrypted communications and sophisticated financial laundering,” the report stressed.
“Indian security agencies have repeatedly warned that narcotics trafficking in the region is not merely criminal but strategic, with proceeds used to destabilise society, fund parallel economies and, in some cases, support extremist causes,” the report highlighted.
It further emphasised that although Punjab and Terracina may appear to be worlds apart, they are connected in the realm of transnational crime and influence operations.
“Until law-enforcement and security cooperation becomes as adaptive and transnational as the networks it confronts, these connections will continue to surface — quietly, locally, and with global consequences,” it stated.
--IANS
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