SMUGGLING IN AVIATION

INTRODUCTION AND GREY ECONOMY

Drug smuggling is a major form of crime in aviation. Smugglers frequently use airports and
commercial aircraft for conducting their trade. Drug couriers often carry narcotics on their
persons or in carry-on luggage. Drugs are also smuggled in cargo holds through checked
baggage or loaded as consigned air cargo. People working in the aviation industry have
opportunity to exploit their access to smuggle drugs.

Also one of the more studied activities of organized crime is its role and functioning in illegal
market and economies which often highlight the role of organized crime in a community as well
as its relationship with legitimate social institutions. In terms of organized crime and quasi-legal
activities in general, this is referred to as the “grey economy” or the “shadow market”. The grey
or the shadow economy is typically defined as market economic activity that goes unreported to
the government. Such economic activities are those that may not necessarily be illegal, but are
‘under the radar’ of typical economic oversight and measurement. The provisions and exchange
of goods and services by criminal group can be considered to fall into this category of economic
analysis, which reiterates the interconnectivity of organized crime and legitimate institutions and
actors in the society. Smuggling in aviation is not limited to the drugs but also it may be money
or even human trafficking as well as illegal migrations and immigrations. There are several rules
as well as some of the regulations so as to control these smuggling in the aircrafts and airports.
The legislations in worldwide international laws as well as the provisions for the same situations
in the countries like India and further discussing about the main source of these kind of
smugglings in aviation and its effect in the economy of a nation due to such illegal activities and
some of the provisions as well as procedures established so as to stop these activities.1

Also some of the organizations as well as special teams or functionary bodies established so as to
look before the matters being related to the smuggling in the aviation and its laws and the powers
as well as duties provided to these functionary bodies.

INTERNATIONAL SCENERIO OF SMUGGLING IN AVIATION

1
M. C. Bassiouni, International criminal law. Leiden, the Netherlands: M. Nijhoff Publishers, 2008.
The golden age of drug trafficking by air began in the 1970s with drug mules flying on a daily
basis into the US from Colombia and elsewhere in Latin America. Whilst this was glorified in
the media (motion pictures, television series, books, articles, etc.), the harsh reality was that the
avsec world was woefully unprepared to deal with the ever-increasing tide of illicit drug
smuggling. Aviation was, and often is, the drug smugglers transportation mode of choice.
Eugene Gerstein offers a look at the world of drug trafficking and, based on the huge successes
of intervention by customs and other security agencies in stemming the flow of such activity, he
offers advice for aviation security professionals as to how they too can use similar methods of
detection to identify weapons and explosives which might be used to target the industry.

It has been a long-held belief (and a fairly accurate one) that drug smuggling is being used to
finance terrorism (this is clearly stated in ICAO’s aviation security manual). After all, Pablo
Escobar’s reign of terror in Colombia was financed by drugs. At the same time, ICAO was never
overly helpful with regards to guidelines on screening for narcotics. As per the aviation security
manual, 8973 in its various versions, ICAO wants IFSOs (in-flight security officers or ‘air
marshals’) to be trained to recognize drug traffickers, however it is mute on what to do if such
people are indeed recognized. A section on preventive security measures simply calls for the
preventions of using company aircraft to transport illicit drugs and, whilst there are some good
points, such as matching baggage to passengers and ensuring an aircraft is secure form
tampering, it is still very vague. ICAO wants the individual states to facilitate narcotics control
with regards to civil aviation, effectively saying that this should be dealt with first and foremost
by the state, and not, as we see it, by frontline avsec employees.2

In 2006, two federal air marshals were arrested for using their positions and access to smuggle
cocaine from bush intercontinental airport in Houston, TX, to Las Vegas, NV. In 1999, agents
from the US customs and border protection (CBP), drug enforcement administration (DEA), and
bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms agencies arrested more than 55 airline workers at the
Miami international airport in Florida for being involved in a smuggling network that was
bringing narcotics to the United States on commercial flights.

2
L. A. Sorrell, Colombia: U.S. Relations and Issues. Hauppauge: Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2010.
 INDIAN SCENERIO OF SMUGGLING IN AVIATION

Major as well as secondary airports in the country are used by the traffickers to smuggle various
drugs through personal carriers, postal services, etc. while Delhi and Mumbai remain the most
important airports from where maximum quantities of drugs are seized every year, other airports
from where maximum quantities of drugs are seized every year, other airports such as
Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Amritsar and Trivandrum have also emerged as important
conduits, a fact corroborated by major drug seizures in these places.3

The most important air routes for the smuggling of heroine to the international market is the New
Delhi- Addis Ababa and the Mumbai-Lagos-Addis Ababa air links, which are exploited by
Nigerian and other African dug cartels for smuggling heroin out of India and cocaine into India.
Investigations have revealed that in many instances they induce old and terminally ill patients
coming to India for medical treatments to smuggle cocaine into India.4

Trafficking routes for east and south East Asian markets are Chennai-Kuala lumpur; Hyderabad-
Kuala lumpur; Chennai-China; new Delhi Hong Kong and new Delhi Macao. The new Delhi-
Kathmandu air route is yet another important conduit for trafficking heroin to the international
market.5 In these routes both professional smugglers and ‘first timers’ are extensively exploited
to trafficking drugs in and out of the country.

From the above discussion it can be concluded that while traditional drugs such as heroin,
opium, hashish and cannabis entering India has declined in the last two decades, the inflow of
synthetic drugs such as ATS has increased. The flow of low-grade heroin, prescription drugs as
well as precursors from the country to the international market has also increased tremendously.

3
Annual report 2009, narcotics control bureau, n. 12, p.70
4
“Nigerian arrested with 40gm cocaine,” the times of India, new Delhi, may 9, 2011,
5
Annual report 2008-09, directorate of revenue intelligence, ministry of finance, government of India, new Delhi,
2009, p.10
 LAWS AND LEGISLATIONS RELATED TO AVIATION AND DRUG
TRAFFICKING

INDIA- The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MCA) is the nodal Ministry responsible for the
formulation of policy and regulation of civil aviation in India. The MCA oversees the planning
and implementation of schemes for the growth and expansion of civil air transport, airport
facilities, air traffic services and carriage of passengers and goods by air. The following are the
principal regulatory authorities functioning under the authority of the MCA:

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) enforces civil air regulations, regulates air
transport services, air safety and airworthiness standards. The DGCA draws its authority from
the Aircraft Act and Rules and performs functions like issuance of licenses, approvals,
certificates and permits.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) creates upgrades, maintains and manages civil aviation
infrastructure both on the ground and in the air space in India.

The Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) determines the tariff for aeronautical
services and Passenger Service Fees to monitor performance standards relating to quality,
continuity and reliability of service.

The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) ensures that the aviation security standards
follow national and international obligations/treaties on air safety to which India is a signatory.
To meet this end and prevent unlawful interference in aviation, BCAS issues orders, instructions
and guidelines to State/Union Territory Police, Central Industrial Security Force, airport
authorities and air carriers.