New Delhi, Aug 28 : The narcotic cartels that are operating from Pakistan are increasingly scouting for unemployed youth in Punjab to pick up and deliver drugs.

Tarn Taran in Punjab, a purported hub of cross border smuggling has been the primary focus of the narcotic cartels. Most of the drugs are dropped off here and 99 per cent of the deliveries are reportedly undertaken by drones.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that these cartels have been luring youth in very large numbers to be their couriers. What has been luring the youth into doing work for these cartels is the huge sum of money that they get paid. The payments for each pick and delivery ranges between Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000.

This is huge money and the unemployed youth are easily lured by these cartels, the official explained. Moreover, the youth easily agree because the job is easier when compared to the earlier style of operations, the official added.

Before the drones were used, these couriers had to wait near the border areas, evade security and then collect the drugs from the person coming from the Pakistani side. Thanks to these highly sophisticated drones, the narcotic cartels are able to dodge security agencies most of the times.

Further, the drones drop off the narcotics deep into Indian territory thus making it easier and less risky for the couriers to pick up.

An official, while explaining the scale of operations undertaken by the narcotics mafia, says that every day there are nearly 20 attempts made to drop off the drugs. Even if 15 attempts go through, it is a huge success for the cartels. Moreover, for the unemployed youth the more the merrier as they get to earn much more, the official said.

Another official said that the cartels have a pool over nearly 100 to 150 youth across the border areas who pick up and deliver drugs. Each of these youth are allowed just two to three pick-up and deliveries per month. The youth are rotated regularly so that they do not come under the radar of the agencies, the official said.

The youth who get to pick up and deliver drugs thrice a month too are happy as they get to earn in the range of Rs 60,000 to Rs 1,20,000 each month depending on the quantity they deal with, officials say.

Another headache is the use of juveniles for such operations. There are youth in the age group of 14 to 16 who have been employed for this job.

Juveniles are not tried like adults under the Indian Penal Code or Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Moreover, the punishment for juveniles is reformative in nature and they are sent to detention and reform facilities and not to prison. Further, the levels of suspicion when it comes to 14 or 16 year-old is very less and this helps them evade security much easily officials say.

The Punjab police have upped the ante and have been cracking down on the supply chains. However, the challenge remains in tackling the deliveries that are made by using drones. The Pakistan based cartels have superior drones and their technology is advanced.

The newer drones are in fact linked to satellites and this helps in getting real time information about the security set up at the border areas. This technology also helps in immediately recalling the drone if information suggests that there is a chance of it being shot down by the Indian security agencies.

The recruitment of the youth remains a major challenge. It is the money that they are offered which has led to the employment of such a large number of youth. The kind of money they earn if they do three pick-ups and deliveries is far more than what they would earn if they did a regular job, an official explained.

/IANS