Drug route through dense forests Expanding poppy fields

The United Nations has brought it to the notice of the world and it goes well with the seeming renewed drive against poppy plantation in Manipur. Myanmar Opium Survey 2025 undertaken and issued by the United Nations on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) has highlighted that opium or poppy cultivation expanded 17 pc from 2024 to tot up a total of 53,100 hectares of land under poppy/opium cultivation in the current year. This works out to about 215 square kilometres. Juxtapose this against the approximate 1864 square kilometres which constitute the Imphal valley area and one will get a fairer idea of how fast areas under poppy cultivation have grown in the neighbouring country. Put two and two together and perhaps one may look at the vast poppy cultivation in the neighbouring country to the situation in some of the hills of Manipur, particularly in Kangpokpi, Churachandpur and Pherzawl districts. Even as the UNDOC came out with its damning report, came the news that another 54 cares of poppy cultivations have been destroyed in Kangpokpi district by security forces including the Assam Rifles, Manipur Police and CRPF. The poppy destruction drive cited here is but just one of the cases in the last many days in Manipur and a closer scrutiny can connect the dots between the poppy cultivations in Myanmar and Manipur. And even as poppy plantations have seen an upward spike in the neighbouring country with destruction drive taken up with renewed energy in Manipur, cases of drug seizure in Mizoram have been on the rise. On the day news of the UNDOC findings and the poppy destruction drive in Kangpokpi district in Manipur made it to the news, another equally disturbing news was received from neighbouring Mizoram-the seizure of drugs worth Rs 16.65 crore. Go back 24 hours and another huge consignment of drugs worth Rs 12.5 crore was seized at Cachar in Assam, with the Narcotics Control Bureau claiming that the seizure has led to the busting of a Manipur-Myanmar drug cartel.  Tough to say what exactly ‘busting the drug cartel on the Myanmar-Manipur’ corridor means, for there has been no further report of any follow up action. Two persons were picked up along with the drugs worth Rs 12.5 crore who reportedly moved along the forested corridors of Manipur and were heading towards the Hmarkhawlien-Fulertal-Lakhipur belt before they were arrested at Cachar in Assam. The long route itself suggests a well laid out network, a network that would have provided local logistic support and probably guides to help them navigate through the dense forest corridor. The trail should not be that too tough to crack if the case is worked upon diligently. The massive increase in areas under poppy cultivation in Myanmar, the ongoing destruction drive of poppy cultivations in Manipur and the seizure of drugs, drugs which have originated from Myanmar, are all interconnected and take this a bit further and one can see the hands of drugs, which means big money, in the turmoil gripping Manipur since the evening of May 3, 2023.
The link cannot be wished away. Before Manipur went up in flames in the evening of May 3, 2023, drug seizure particularly along the Imphal-Moreh route was frequent. The only thing was the Government here at Imphal never went beyond the arrest of the people in possession of the drugs, leaving the drug chain intact. For example what is the follow up story after the some cops were arrested with drugs worth crores at Pallel in the earlier part of 2023, that is before Manipur descended into violence in May ? What has happened to the case ? Or is the Government satisfied with just arresting the drug carriers ? There have been many other such cases too, but in all cases, it ended with the arrest of just the drug carrier and the Government never went beyond arresting them. How about poppy cultivation ? Is the Government going to be satisfied with just destroying the poppy plants and arresting one or two village chiefs and the tillers of the soil ? Who financed the poppy plantation ? Who picked up the harvested crops to be marketed ? Who supplied the Urea, a Government controlled fertiliser to the poppy farmers ? These questions need answers to give some substance and meaning to the ‘War on Drugs’ campaign.