What US military strikes in Venezuela reveals about global illegal drug supply chain

The US last week launched a military strike on Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro on multiple charges, including “narcotics terrorism”. The US alleges that the Venezuelan state-sponsored drug trafficking apparatus – the ‘Cartel of the Suns’ – has been involved in shipping illicit drugs into America for the past two decades.

Therefore, the US military operation in Venezuela has put the spotlight back on the state-enabled drug trafficking as well as the existing global illegal drug supply chain. In this context, it becomes important to understand the factors that enable ‘state-sponsored drug trafficking’, its consequences, and most importantly, the threats it poses to India’s security.

Apart from the intense debate over the legality of US military operation, Venezuela is also seen as offering a cautionary lesson about the trajectory of state-enabled drug trafficking. Analysts underline that the Latin American state’s transformation from a transit corridor into what is described as a “gangster state” was not accidental but followed the systematic capture of state institutions, with ports, financial systems, and diplomatic channels repurposed to facilitate narcotics trafficking.

The Maduro-era nexus between political authority, military elites, and transnational cartels illustrates how drug economies become durable once embedded within state infrastructure that exploits regulatory loopholes. It may be pointed out here that in the case of India, the issues around the regulatory ecosystem are compounded by geographical factors.

Wedged between the world’s largest opium-producing geographical regions of the ‘Golden Crescent’ – that cuts across Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran on the one side – and the ‘Golden Triangle’ – constituted by Thailand, Myanmar and Laos to the east – India finds itself embedded within one of the most active narcotics trafficking routes in the world.

Notably, the 2025 US Annual Threat Assessment identified India, after China, as a key source of “fentanyl precursor chemicals and pill-pressing equipment” for drug traffickers. Fentanyl is a highly potent synthetic opioid, much stronger than morphine. It has emerged as the leading substance implicated in overdose fatalities in the US, driving an opioid epidemic that the Trump administration has highlighted as a major policy concern.

Shortly after, the US Department of Justice indicted executives of a Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical firm for allegedly supplying fentanyl ingredients, most notably 1-(tert-Butoxycarbonyl)-4-piperidone, also called N-BOC-4-piperidone (N-BOC-4P), a List I chemical central to fentanyl synthesis to Mexican cartels. This was done by misdeclaring shipments to evade controls.

In other cases, the US Treasury also sanctioned Indian nationals for  the online distribution of fentanyl-laced counterfeit medicines in the US. It is noted that India started emerging as a hub of illicit production and export by early 2018 as China tightened restrictions on precursor chemicals under US pressure.

Statistically, the International Narcotics Control Board’s Annual Report 2023 postulates that 40 per cent of the opiate consuming population is situated in South Asia, with India alarmingly emerging as the primary market for such drugs in the region. But synthetic drugs have fundamentally altered the threat landscape.

In 2024, Indian law-enforcement agencies registered narcotics seizures worth around 25,330 crore, marking an increase of roughly 55 per cent from 2023. This disquieting increase was primarily observed in synthetic drugs, cocaine, and pharmaceutical substances misappropriated for their psychotropic effects.

While year-on-year cocaine seizures increased from 292 kg in 2023 to 1,426 kg in 2024, mephedrone interdictions rose from 688 kg to 3,391 kg, and amphetamine-type stimulants like methamphetamine went up from 34 quintals to 80.

In addition to public health concerns, these statistics also underline the increasing threat to India’s socio-economic situation as well as the internal security framework. Money generated from drug trade is diverted for financing terrorism, procuring illegal arms and even human trafficking. India’s western border region exemplifies this tacit convergence between drug trafficking and arms smuggling.

As per a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), most of the ammunition smuggled by criminal groups in Punjab across the Pakistan border is allegedly funded by drug trafficking revenues.

Similarly, various insurgent groups in Afghanistan and Myanmar have been identified for exploiting narcotics economies in the ‘Golden Crescent’ and ‘Golden Triangle’ regions and  creating a self-perpetuating cycle of narcotics-funded militancy.

The role of private financial institutions in covertly facilitating the siphoning of monetary proceeds from drug trafficking and converting them into investments has also been a serious concern. The advent of cryptocurrency and darknet markets has further complicated the situation.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has also flagged an increase in the use of cryptocurrency transactions to camouflage illicit payments and launder proceeds from drug trafficking, particularly in the growing use of USDT tokens as a substitute for traditional hawala networks.

According to the Smuggling in India 2024–25 report, such crypto-based transfers enable cross-border transactions by traffickers through evasion of regulatory scrutiny, further cementing the nexus between narcotics networks and digital payment infrastructures.

As India started emerging as a hub of illicit production and export by early 2018, authorities were quick to respond. For instance, the issuance of Unique Registration Number (URN) by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to companies handling 18 new precursor chemicals used in the manufacture of synthetic drugs is seen as a step in the right direction. These chemicals are notified under Schedules B and C of the Regulation of Controlled Substances (RCS).

But a multi-stakeholder approach that goes beyond traditional law enforcement paradigms could further help address the convergent illegality more effectively. Such an approach may include: 1. Stricter oversight of its chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

2. A review of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, to tackle the issue of precursor chemicals and production methodologies.

3. In addition to the stringent enforcement of ‘Know Your Customer’ protocols for chemical sales, India could also emulate China’s approach of class-wide control over fentanyl analogues and precursors brought about in 2019.

4. Information sharing on data and sales of opioid precursor chemicals can be better leveraged by using the International Operation on NPS Incident Communication System (IONICS) platform along with Precursor Incident Communication System (PICS).

In this context, the Punjab government’s deployment of counter-drone systems is seen as a timely response towards monitoring the western border from such illicit drug trade. Similar investments in advanced surveillance technologies, like underwater radar detection systems, drones and AI-assisted monitoring, appear indispensable in supplementing the capacity of the Border Security Force for countering drug trafficking and assisting efficient confiscation measures.

Drug trafficking becomes a national security threat when it finances terrorism, arms smuggling and financial crime. Comment.

How has the rise of synthetic drugs altered the nature of the narcotics threat to India? Discuss its implications for internal security and public health.

Evaluate the challenges posed by cryptocurrency and darknet markets in countering drug trafficking in India.

Why is India particularly vulnerable to transnational drug trafficking due to its geography?

How do regulatory gaps in chemical and pharmaceutical sectors create governance and security challenges? Suggest reforms.

(Shamna Thacham Poyil is a Doctoral Research Scholar in the Department of Political Science, University of Delhi.)

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