Cartel

Cartel: The New-Age Narcos

It is a book by Manish Pachouly about Narcotics Control Bureau’s war against the rising drug menace, especially in Mumbai. Though written as fiction, the book is based on true incidents of the recent past.

Narcotics smuggling in India has taken a twist in modern times. Though the notorious narco-traffickers, having underworld links, still work full time, the new breed has involved innovative methods to smuggle drugs and supply the same to their high-profile clients.

The Narcotics Control Bureau is facing multi-dimensional challenges in its attempt to curb drug smuggling. While the agency’s fight against the powerful and violent conservative narco smugglers continues, the young mysterious traffickers belonging to decent families, and who operate online from abroad, have remained a puzzle for them. The innovative working style of these tech-savvy traffickers has been keeping the NCB officers constantly busy, making them figure out new ways to keep their activities under control.

As if the use of the dark web for smuggling and supplying drugs, and cryptocurrency as a mode of payment, was not enough to baffle the agency, the recruitment of peddlers has also been witnessing a new trend. The traffickers are now acting as influencers on social media platforms to entice youths looking for quick money.

On one hand, the head of the NCB’s west zone unit had to hire former paramilitary officers who are experts in hand-to-hand combat and shooting, to deal with the notorious smugglers, he also found the need for tech-savvy men to decode the functional style of the new age narcos.

The book also has an interview with Mr. Robert Mazur, a former special agent with the US Customs Service and also the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who spent five years as a deep undercover agent infiltrating money laundering operations connected to Colombia’s notorious drug cartels including Pablo Escobar.

Drug smuggling has evolved over time. Though traditional narco-traffickers have maintained notoriety, the new breed has become infamous for using innovative methods to smuggle drugs.

They hide behind the multiple layers of the dark web for supplying drugs and use cryptocurrency, as a mode of payment. Facing this multi-dimensional challenge, Samar Khare, the zonal unit head of the Narcotics Control Bureau, feels the need to design multifaceted strategies.

To fight violent conservative smugglers, Samar hires former paramilitary officers.

However, his bigger challenge remains to unmask the mysterious traffickers operating online from undisclosed locations abroad. Samar has no choice but to keep evolving and finding out novel ways to break into the network of these new-age narcos.

Will he be successful in his mission?