The trail worked out by the NCB Manipur should take a look
|
It is a big catch, or at least this is what the Narcotics Control Bureau wants to convey in arresting what it calls a ‘major Myanmar based drug trafficker’. The key is the claim that in arresting the ‘major drug trafficker’, the NCB has managed to bust the drug trafficking network that spreads from Myanmar to Mizoram to Delhi and to underline its point, it went back to a major drug seizure case of March 6, 2025 and linked it to the arrest of the ‘major drug trafficker’. As the NCB, in its statement to the media in Guwahati revealed, the drug seizure case of March, 2025 entailed the confiscation of 48 Kg of crystal methamphe- tamine. Apart from the huge seizure of the contraband, the NCB has also worked out that the drug trafficking or smuggling network entails other related activities such as procuring vehicles for smuggling the drugs. And earlier, that is before the arrest of the main drug trafficker from Myanmar, the NCB also recalled that five other accused were also arrested in the same month of last year and followed this up by divulging the names of those picked up. The trail went as far as Delhi and this is probably what has made NCB claim that they have been able to bust a drug trafficking network. The meticulous approach of the NCB to tackle cross border drug trafficking is noted and perhaps one hopes this has also come to the notice of the Government of Manipur. As repeatedly pointed out, more teeth need to be given to the War on Drugs campaign, a drive that was launched in 2018, that is one year after the BJP led Government came to power in its first innings. And it is under the War on Drugs campaign that the State Government launched an intensive drive against poppy cultivation, with reports of the drive coming in at the office of all the Imphal based media regularly. The updated information is not yet available with The Sangai Express but so far more than 15 village chiefs have been arrested for poppy cultivation and within a time span of one year, that is from 2025 to 2026 over 2500 acres of poppy plantations have been razed to the ground. This is apart from the planters or the tillers of the soil who have also been arrested, with their number exceeding 70. The figures look impressive, but there is not much to say about the follow up. Village chiefs and tillers of the soil have been arrested, but so far there is as yet no report on who are the big guns financing the poppy plantations. Who takes away the harvested crops ? Who markets the finished products of the poppy ? Where are they taken ? Answers to the posers raised here should make up the ’jigsaw puzzle’ and take the Government nearer to the understanding of making the War on Drugs more meaningful. The point is, something much more needs to be done, maybe along the line the NCB has done, in establishing the ties that run through the arrests and seizures of drugs.
Reports of drug pushers being arrested with so and so many grams of heroin or brown sugar or opium have hit the pages of the daily newspapers quite frequently, but rarely has Manipur seen the arrest or unmasking of any major player in the drug market. The War on Drugs should be something much more than arresting a peddler or two from some of the more notorious localities in Imphal and so far Manipur has not seen or heard of any worthwhile follow up action. Days before Manipur went up in flames on May 3, 2023, some policemen were arrested at Pallel with a drug consignment and fast forward to 2026 and no one seems to know what has happened to the case. The Sangai Express had repeatedly pointed out that the policemen caught with the drugs could have been just drug carriers and the need to go deeper into the case was highlighted. But so far nothing has been heard along this line. In short no one knows what has happened to this case. There are many other such cases, and this does not exactly say anything positive about the efforts taken up by the Government to crack the drug trade. The details worked out by the NCB should serve as a lesson to the State Government and a leaf or two should be taken out from the manner in which it has been able to piece together the different cases and track the route all the way to Delhi.
Reports of drug pushers being arrested with so and so many grams of heroin or brown sugar or opium have hit the pages of the daily newspapers quite frequently, but rarely has Manipur seen the arrest or unmasking of any major player in the drug market. The War on Drugs should be something much more than arresting a peddler or two from some of the more notorious localities in Imphal and so far Manipur has not seen or heard of any worthwhile follow up action. Days before Manipur went up in flames on May 3, 2023, some policemen were arrested at Pallel with a drug consignment and fast forward to 2026 and no one seems to know what has happened to the case. The Sangai Express had repeatedly pointed out that the policemen caught with the drugs could have been just drug carriers and the need to go deeper into the case was highlighted. But so far nothing has been heard along this line. In short no one knows what has happened to this case. There are many other such cases, and this does not exactly say anything positive about the efforts taken up by the Government to crack the drug trade. The details worked out by the NCB should serve as a lesson to the State Government and a leaf or two should be taken out from the manner in which it has been able to piece together the different cases and track the route all the way to Delhi.