1.
GV EXTERIOR Vigyan Bhawan building
0.06

2.
SV INTERIOR Delegates seated at seminar on drugs control, including those from Pakistan, India, Thailand, Bangladesh, Brunei, Indonesia and Interpol (7 shots)
0.46

3.
SCU India's Minister of State for Finance, S.M. Krishna, and other delegates (3 shots)
1.04




Initials GG/BB





Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The fourth International Training Seminar and Workshop on Drug Control and Enforcements started in New Delhi on April 16. Among those attending the opening address were delegates from 35 nations, including Pakistan, Thailand, Bangladesh and Brunei, as well as members of Interpol. India's Minister of State for Finance, S.M. Krishna, inaugurated the seminar. He said instruction in the prevention of illegal trafficking in drugs would be carried out by the directorate of Training, Customs and Central Excise, which has held three international seminars on the subject since 1978 in conjunction with the United Nations Division of Narcotic Drugs. Most of the world's legal and illegal drugs originate from Asia. India is the biggest producer and exporter of licit opium, the raw product for heroin. A large mountain of surplus opium, totalling some 2,500 tonnes (tons) in India, caused recent security and customs concern in Western nations -- the main market for lucrative, illegal drug peddling. The mountain built up as new poppy growers in Spain, France and Australia came on stream, coinciding with a drop in demand for opium by legitimate chemical companies because of the Western economic opium by legitimate chemical companies because of the Western economic recession. Synthetic substitutes, like methodone, have also contributed to overproduction by India, which grew about 900 tonnes (tons) for export last year. The New Delhi conference is scheduled to end on April 25.