Assam Police expatiated their operation against illegal drugs in the state and have been successful in cracking the smuggling net in the last few weeks. Since January, police have also been able to arrest a good number of peddlers from across the state.
Director general of police Bhaskarjyoti Mahanta said that well-organised and calculated campaign of police against illegal drug trafficking is being intensified now.
Altogether 784 individuals have been arrested from January 1 to May 26 this year under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, as per official data. Apart from that, 529 cases have been registered and Rs 22,15,220 cash have been seized.
Assam Police also seized a huge cache of illegal drugs from the peddlers. Also, they were able to destroy poppy cultivation in more than 15 bighas of land.
“These targeted and sustained raids by Assam Police are expected to considerably weaken the networks of drug traffickers,” Mahanta wrote in a column in The Assam Tribune.
“Encouraged by the dynamic leadership of the government of Assam, Assam Police will exert untiringly to demolish such networks till they are completely rooted out from our society.”
He also said that Assam is a very convenient location for drug trafficking.
“It is situated near the ‘Golden Triangle’ shaped by the international borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. Assam has become a corridor for drug trafficking to the rest of the country,” Mahanta mentioned in the column.
“It has been established that illegal drugs are first transported to Assam via two of its bordering states — Manipur and Mizoram — and, thereafter, from Guwahati, they are further transported to different parts of the country. Different drugs are also brought to Assam from other parts of India. They are first transported to every nook and corner of Assam and then to neighbouring Bangladesh and other states,” the Assam Police DGP wrote.
The routes through which these narcotics are transported to Assam have been identified as:
- Moreh-lmphal-Kohima-Dimapur-Karbi Anglong-Golaghat-Nagaon-Guwahati;
- Myanmar-Mizoram-Barak Valley-Meghalaya-Guwahati;
- Samrah Track (Myanmar)- Patkai Hills-Khonsa-Dibrugarh-Guwahati;
- Upper Myanmar-Old Stilwell Road-Jagun-Lekhapani-Margherita-Dibrugarh-Guwahati.
The top cop has also hinted that drug traffickers from Manipur are found to be very active in smuggling their stuff to Assam.
“They are normally helped in this mission by some major conduits living in Guwahati and Shillong. The Assam Police have succeeded in retrieving such drugs from packets of bathing soaps and spare motor tyres,” said the DGP.
