Controlling precursor chemicals

Tag : Potassium Chemicals

29 May, 2008 - Potassium permanganate purifies water but can also purify cocaine.Acetic anhydride is used in the pharmaceutical, textile and leatherindustries but can also be misused to manufacture heroin.
Such chemicals are known as precursor chemicals, which aretransacted illegally worldwide to manufacture drugs.

A country need not produce precursor chemicals by themselves butcan be used as a transit point by other nations or organizations,who are into illicit precursor chemical transaction, said theregional precursor control project coordinator for United Nationsoffice on drugs and crime (UNODC), Mr Rajiv Wadia. Mr Wadia was inThimphu this week to train Bhutanese law enforcement officers onprecursors chemical control and regulation in collaboration withthe Bhutan narcotic control agency (BNCA). Representatives from theRoyal Bhutan police (RBP), department of revenue and customs (DRC)and the Bhutan agriculture and food regulatory authority (BAFRA)participated in the two-day training.
During the training, the resource person demonstrated the use ofprecursor field test kits by performing tests on samples ofprecursor chemicals. The training also touched upon the 23precursor chemicals listed by the United Nations, techniques ofintelligence collection, investigation and the status of thecurrent drug/precursor situation in the region.
Bhutan at present imports less quantities of precursor chemicalsbut neighbouring countries like Pakistan, India, Myanmar andAfghanistan import and export huge quantities of precursorchemicals, said Mr Wadia. Afghanistan alone produces about 85percent of the worlds opium so, in future, Bhutan could end up asa transit point for illegal transaction of these precursorchemicals.
Reduction of precursor chemicals would directly reduce theavailability of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances sincethese precursors are used to produce drugs like cocaine andheroine.
According to the survey conducted by BNCA, Bhutan imports sixprecursor chemicals, viz., sulphuric acid, hydrochloric acid,potassium permanganate, toluene, acetone and methyl ethyl ketone.All are imported from India. These precursors are imported for usein industries, retail and educational institutions.
In 2007, Bhutan imported 19,359 litres of sulphuric acid, 4,291 lof hydrochloric acid, 24,784 l of toluene, 56 kg of potassiumpermanganate and 12 l of acetone.
By Tandin Wangchuk