Being the largest regional manufacturer and exporter of `precursors' or chemicals which have legitimate industrial use but are also essential for drug production, there is a lurking danger that these substances may find their way into illicit production of drugs and psychotropic substances, says C Chakraborty, member of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).

There have been attempts and successful diversions of precursors from India, says a report brought out by the South Asian office of the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP).

India, along with Pakistan and Myanmar, have been involved in several incidents of diversion of ephedrine, which has pharmaceutical application but is also used for drug manufacturing, says the UNDCP newsletter.

Over 2,000 kg of ephedrine was seized in Myanmar in 1997, a substantial partof which might have originated from India, it says.

In 1998, a series of seizures totalling 350 kg took place in India near the Myanmar border, while recently about 250 kg of the substance was again seized along the same border.

The UNDCP report observes smuggling of acetic anhydride -- used for processing cocaine, heroin and LSD -- from India to Myanmar appeared to have been checked but noted with concern that diversions to Pakistan continue.

The quantity of acetic anhydrade seized in Pakistan has steadily increased, it says, suspecting a portion of 45,000 metric tonnes of the chemical produced annually in India finds its way across the border.

But the main impediment in tackling abuse of precursors is that there is hardly any information exchange among different nations, says Chakraborty.

Lack of a national policy in various countries, absence of effective coordinating mechanism and operation of free ports and free trade zones without customs regulation were to be blamed for laxity in precursorcontrol, opines Dr D C Jayasuriya, UNDCP South Asian coordinator of the precursor control project.

``As we move towards one global village, as we liberalise trade and as we increasingly access the Internet, we can see the `precursor mafia' lurking in the background trying to exploit every opportunity to divert consignments for precursors,'' says UNDCP regional representative Abdul Latif.

The need of the hour is to formulate a broader control mechanism to regulate use of precursors, Latif says, as drug traffickers are frequently targeting new countries and routes, while substitute chemicals -- not currently under international control -- are increasingly being used.

The gravity of the situation forced the UNDCP to organise here recently a consultation of competent authorities on precursor control in SAARC countries to consider the current and emerging trends and identify how best they can mobilise their resources and cooperate with each other to prevent the diversion of precursors.

However, what makescontrolling diversion of precursors more difficult is the fact that only a negligible quantity is needed for largescale production of drugs.

In order to manufacture 13 million dosage units of LSD, traffickers need merely one kg of lysergic acid.

A certain precursor legitimately available in India for Rs 100 a litre commands a price of Rs 500 per litre as soon as it is illegally diverted to traffickers. The price shoots upto Rs 5,000 per litre as the chemical crosses the border. With such a high stake, tackling the problem is not going to be easy, warns Dr Jayasuriya.