SYDNEY: 

Deadly habit: According to Australia, west African drug cartels have established a large presence near Goa and are exploiting India's huge trade volume to ship cocaine, heroin and pseudoephedrine. representation pic

Australian law enforcement authorities believe India is fast becoming one of the world's largest transit points in the global drug market.

According to Australian Crime Commission (ACC) chief Alastair Milroy, India is also a primary source of illegal chemicals used in the manufacture of narcotics such as ice.

Milroy has warned that with the country emerging as a key staging point in the drug market's supply chain, it's economic growth is beginning to be matched by a surge in the black market.

The Commission also warned that Australia is exposed to India's growing black market because of the high volume of trade between the two countries.

Milroy said criminal sources were increasingly using legitimate business relationships to "camouflage" illegal activities such as drug smuggling and money laundering.

"We need to make sure we track the rise of economies like India and China to see what impact that has on our economy.

"We're going to have a vibrant trade with India; we need to make sure there aren't any threats there," Milroy told The Australian newspaper yesterday.

According to the ACC, Australia's main criminal intelligence agency, West African drug cartels, predominantly Nigerian, had established a large presence near Goa and were exploiting India's huge trade volume to ship cocaine, heroin and pseudoephedrine to rich Western markets in Europe and Australia.

With detection facilities in West Africa lax, South American-grown cocaine was shipped there before being brought into India, for transhipment.