Wednesday 13 December 2017

NEW TRENDS IN DRUG SMUGGLING

New Trends in Drug Smuggling...

Background;

The history of international drug trade in the world goes back to about 2000 years ago when the Great Silk Route came into existence under the Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). Since Silk was the primary merchandise, this route came to be known as the Silk Route. Opium, precious stones and condiments etc also formed part of the trade on this route which went on to parts of China, parts of present Afghanistan, India, Persians, Arabs, Syrians, Greeks and Romans etc.
Part of this route is still in existence. It starts from the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle. The former primarily commences from parts of Afghanistan onto India, Iran, Turkey, countries of erstwhile USSR and further on to Europe and the United States. The other route starts from the notorious Golden Triangle and as far as India is concerned, it passes through some states in the North East and Bengal and goes on to parts on India as also countries abroad.

India, on Drug Map;

India is not only fast becoming a major drug market but one of the major international drug routes also. Not only drugs produced in the Crescent and Triangle are passing through but even ingenuously produced high quality Cannabinoids, particularly Mallana, as also ‘Made in India Synthetics’ are getting immensely popular abroad because of their purity and high grade potency. Contacts in some prominent international anti drug agencies have revealed that they are keeping a close eye on the drug trade passing and exported from India and the matter has been taken up with the Indian government / anti drug agencies. India has also started figuring prominently in the reports of the U.N. agencies.

The New Silk Route;

The name ‘Silk Route’ as such, retained its historical value only till 2013 when it came to light that another silk route was in existence for some time. It was more notorious and deadly than the historic route. One Ross William Ulbricht an American drug trafficker and darknet market operator was arrested in 2013. darknet market or cryptomarket is a commercial website on the web that operates via darknets such as ‘Tor’ or 12 P (‘Tor’ is an acronym that stands for ‘the onion route’—free computer software that enables users to communicate anonymously using different layers of networks; hence, the analogy of an onion). They function primarily as black markets supplying drugs to selling illegal arms and ammunition, forging documents, opening secret bank accounts, providing services for money laundering, offering techniques for hacking into secure computer systems and networks, providing tools for phishing or illegal siphoning of money by pretending to be genuine customers of banks and financial institutions, spamming or sending unwanted electronic mail, anonymous mail drops, online financial scams and so on. Ulbricht, who went by the moniker ‘Dread Pirate Roberts’, was the elusive creator and proprietor of massive illegal online market named ‘Silk Road’ .Ulbricht was arrested in 2013 for creating the ‘largest and most sophisticated criminal enterprise on the ‘worldwide web’ which had generated business worth $214 million by selling a wide variety of contraband material and offering a range of illegal services, within a span of about two years, 2011 - 2013. Even after his arrest several other DNMs (Dragnet Markets) are still operating internationally. They include variety of names like Agora, Evolution, Pandora, Blue Sky, Hydra, Cloud 9, Andromeda, Outlaw, Pirate, Black Bank, Tor Bazaar, Cannabis Garden and Alpaca. Together, these sites are said to have concluded several thousands of illegal and illicit deals and are still operative under one name or the other.

Indian DNM (Dark Net Market) operation;

 Indian ‘scamsters and operators’ are, unfortunately second to none, if not the very best. India as well the Darknet markets are booming and operating selling variety of items enumerated in preceding paragraph. Drugs, however, remain the most important of them. One often hears weird names like Hari P…., Madly Fo….., Dream M…., Va…., Al… B…, Ha…. etc. All types of drugs including high quality cannabinoids, Mallana, psychedelics, opioids, dissociatives, ecstacy, steroids, cannabis, benzos, barbiturates and prescription drugs. These Indian drug vendors also sell a wide range of prescription drugs like Benzodiazepines (antidepressants) like Xanax, Barbiturates (central nervous system depressants), pain killers like Tramadol and erectile dysfunction medicines like Tadalafil which are misused by drug addicts. Drug peddlers and addicts having basic knowledge of computer, can easily buy drugs from dark net.
Even ‘clean and uncut’ Bolivian cocaine along with review of quality of the cocaine with a picture of it is also being sold. The vendors also provide escrow services where one can track the consignment. DNMs are like any other e-commerce portals where payment generally has to be made in hard currency and even Bitcoins, when transaction is of higher denominations and at an international level. Within the country and for ‘retail transactions’, Indian currency is accepted. 
Though online purchase of drugs is relatively a comparative new phenomenon in India, but it has picked up fast. Indian drug peddlers are said to be even using Indian Postal services for delivering the drugs. Several vendors are also using normal courier services as also delivering through their personal courier networks. Secrecy and direct contact between the vendor and agent / end user is the reason why it has not been coming to the lime light.

Scenario in Punjab;

1-      In short the narration above is said to be true of Punjab as well where, unfortunately on the one hand drug usage is said to be high and on the other whatever small sized surveys have been undertaken, have been marred by political controversies. One political party swears by them and some other ridicule. However it remains a fact that not much attention has been paid towards this issue. I have grave doubts if the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in CWP 20359 OF 2013 have been implemented in the right earnest. I, Shashi Kant was the petitioner in this case whose letter petition was suo moto accepted by the then Hon’ble Chief Justice Mr. Sanjay Kishan Kaul way back in 2013.

2-      It is a pity that the drug issue of Punjab gets highlighted only around elections and gets the back seat a few months later and situation remains more or less the same there after. As on date hardly anyone is talking about drugs and I am sure that it will come up again only during the next general elections.

3-      This serious issue has only been politicised by some with no intent to solve it. I have been raising this issue relentlessly for last about ten year, but have failed to obtain the support of any political party / political leaders who matter and even public in general. I feel that unfortunately there is no intent on their part and gullible individuals will continue to succumb to drugs.

4-      The only response that I have got has been in the form of attempts on my life, attempts to kidnap me and threats to me and my family. I am thankful to the Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court for having provided me security but attempts to intimidate even within the premises of the High Court continued asking me not to peruse or attend the case proceedings. Though I have been informing concerned authorities but as a last resort, I have prepared a detailed report about the individuals and groups who have been indulging in these nefarious activities of threatening me and my family as also mentally and psychologically harassing me and have handed it over to my lawyers in Chandigarh with the request that it be opened only after my death which appears imminent sooner or later because I intend continuing my antidrug tirade, which had become somewhat slow since my mother sad demise. I have since coped up with that immense loss and am going to go ahead full steam once again.

I, however, wish to clearly state that the mental and psychological harassment, besides the real threat to our lives, by such anti national and anti social elements, has reached immense and intolerable magnitude.  This often leads me to wonder that if this could happen to me, who has been lucky to have had the media support with him, what could have happened to a common citizen of this country.

5-      I would like to clearly state that I have approached almost the entire senior leadership of the state as also the country,  but of no avail. It is sad indeed. It just exposes their hollow claims. 

6-      Regarding the STF, it started off very well but lost steam over a period of time, particularly after the arrest of a police official, who had earlier remained posted in border area. Startling disclosures were expected from him, which somehow appear to have failed to see the light of the day.

7-      As far as the drug trade in Punjab is concerned, my information indicates that though the smuggling ring remains intact, but the dons are lying low because of the reasons to which I am not privy. Drug smuggling from across the international border falling in Punjab has gone down. Availability of opiates has also gone down leading to opening of other channels of smuggling. As far as the Golden Crescent is concerned, opiates are primarily coming in from the J&K. Major routed remain from across Muzzafarabad – Uri sector and Poonch sector of J&K across Rawalkot. Army and other security forces have not been able to curtain heroin smuggling because their major concentration is on anti terror activities. It may be mentioned that the condition of drug affliction in J&K is no better than that of Punjab. As against earlier trend of drug smuggling from Punjab into J&K, now the situation has reversed.

Production of synthetics in the state appears to have gone down but their production appears to be continuing in states bordering Punjab. Some medicine producing hubs in the country are said to have gone in to massive production of synthetics, thanks to the failure of the anti drug agencies in the country and the loop holes in the drug policy of Government of India. There appears to be no coordination whatsoever among them.

Drugs continue coming in from across Himachal and also from Nepal. Reports exist about clandestine manufacture of grade three heroin in parts of Saharanpur and some districts of Haryana bordering Punjab.

8-      Not much improvement in the open availability of pharmaceutical drugs and poppy husk. In fact with the increase in the prices of heroin, dependence on pharmaceutical drugs has increase considerably.

9-      Another disturbing trend is the smuggling of heroin from across the Golden Triangle. Smaller quantities of opiates are being brought in by truck drivers both for consumption and sale.
10-  In short the ‘opiate epidemic’, as recently voiced by Donald Trump, remains intact in India, with marginal improvement in Punjab, with all concerned parties sleeping away to glory.


Thursday 16 March 2017

OPEN LETTER TO CAPT AMARINDER SINGH SIR

Dear Capt Amarinder Singh, Sir

Heartiest congratulations to you and to your party which has since ushered in a new era of hope for the state of Punjab.

Having been in the government service both in the Center and the State and having served (on attachment from the parent organisation to which i had been serving on deputation) three Prime Ministers of the country, I understand that enormity of your task as the incumbent Chief Minister of a state which is bankrupt, whose primary resources like state properties have been sold, whose natural resources like water, forest land, sand, gravel etc have been mercilessly plundered; whose public property including road transport, electricity, industry, to name a few have been misappropriated; a state whose coffers are empty; a state where a significant percentage of populace, particularly youth are addicted to narcotic substances; a state whose officials, civil and police included, are ridden with the scrooge of corruption in its worst possible form.

While wishing you the very best of luck and knowing that you will be choosing the best possible team and will bring Punjab back on its feet, I Shashi Kant, who has single handedly been fighting against the scrooge of drugs and fighting for various aspects of Human Rights, the very basic Natural Right of the entire humanity; since 2007, unconditionally offer my wholehearted services to you.

I am sure that I will be able to help, on howsoever minuscule mangitude it may be, to fulfil your promise to the state of Pounjab to
eradicate the drug menace, it its entirety, from Punjab.

It will necessarily include cutting the chain of supply, identification of drug dons in all spheres; social, political, police, civil etc etc.

As also creating awareness, and ensuring all preventive steps on which I have also been assisting the Hon'ble Punjab and Haryana High Court as well.

The over all package, in short...

And unconditionally...

At last I would like to submit that way back in 2012 I had made this offer to the earstwhile Chief Minister as well. Now that you are in position, you get that letter located from the records of the office of the Chief Minister.

Sir, I also request you to get the list of major drug Lords of Punjab which was prepared by the intelligence wing way back is 2007, located from the records of the intelligence wing.

It may be a somewhat difficult task because the officials of the intelligence wing had been, on account of political pressures, filing wrong and motivated affidavits in the courts of law denying the existence of the list on file. If it's gets surfaced then they will have to face the charge of perjury.

I have no problems giving out the major names which existed in that list as also the names of the officials of the team which had prepared that list

Worst coming to worst you can order preparation of a fresh list and ordering crackdown

Once again offering my services,

Sincerely

Shashi kant

Tuesday 14 February 2017

VALENTINE'S DAY...

Valentines Day...
(Acknowdgement / Courtesy  www.history.com)

INTRODUCTION

Every February 14, almost around the world, candy, flowers and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint, and where did these traditions come from? The story starts from ancient Roman rituals to the customs of Victorian England.

THE LEGEND OF ST. VALENTINE

The history of Valentine’s Day–and the story of its patron saint–is shrouded in mystery. February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine’s Day contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition.

The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first “valentine” greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl–possibly his jailor’s daughter–who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine". This expression is still used. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories all emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and–most importantly–romantic figure. By the Middle Ages, perhaps thanks to this reputation, Valentine would become one of the most popular saints in England and France.



ORIGINS OF VALENTINE’S DAY: A PAGAN FESTIVAL IN FEBRUARY

While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial–which probably occurred around A.D. 270–others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of "Lupercalia". Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat’s hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.

VALENTINE’S DAY: A DAY OF ROMANCE

Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity and but was outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”–at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance.

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine’s didn’t begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. (The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.

TYPICAL VALENTINE’S DAY GREETINGS

Valentine’s Day is celebrated almost all over the world including Europe and in American Australian continenents. In Great Britain, Valentine’s Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes. The commercialisation of the event started by 1900 when printed cards replaced written  notes.

Americans too probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as “scrap.” According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.)

Valentine’s Day has since become an industry, as also day of love between all humans and families as well.



Unfortunately for some of semi literate and semi civilised people in India, it has become a day to exhibit their lust and vandalism...




Acknowledgement...

It is almost a reproduction of an beautifully illustrated article available on the net and belonging to the www.history.com

This article has been reproduced to help create and awareness in India where this great social occasion has unfortunately just become an occasion to harrass females by some goddamn lusty people and antisocial vandals.

Hope they draw some inspiration from this great article which is on net on the open site of the www.history.com