Ever since Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma-led BJP Government took charge in Dispur in May 2021, the war on drugs continues to hammer the drug rackets in Assam. In fact, continuous efforts by the Assam Police against drug menace has broken the spine of smugglers network.
The strongest steps taken by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and CM Himanta Biswa Sarma has curved drug menace in the State to maximum level. As a result, over 9,500 drug smugglers and peddlers have been put behind bars in the last two and a half years. The Assam Police seized drugs amounting to Rs 1,630 crores in this period. DGP GP Singh informed that a total of 5,620 cases have been registered in the State under the NDPS Act. Assam is among the top ten States in registration of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act cases. Against these cases, over 9,500 drug traffickers had been arrested and property worth Rs 19.40 crores had been frozen in the last two and half years.
As per the Assam Police data, in the last two years, over 255 kg of heroin, 81,902 kg of ganja, 303 kg of opium, over 10 lakhs psychotropic tablets, 5.08 lakh cough syrup bottles, 285 kg of cannabis, 52 kg of cocaine were seized by police in numerous operations across the State. The State Police destroyed at least 700 bighas of opium and 40 bighas of cannabis cultivation.
The Assam Police launched a ‘Drugs Free Assam Mobile App’ to curb usage of drugs. Information sharing on drugs trafficking and help for drug users have been digitised through this App by the Police Department.
The State Police is continuing with its massive crackdown on the drug trafficking menace in the State. DGP GP Singh said,“We remain committed to completely dismantling the drug trafficking networks”.
Recently, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “Under Prime Minister’s leadership and Home Minister’s guidance, we will work to ensure a drug-free India by 2047”.
When CM Sarma took oath as Chief Minister of Assam in May 2021, the State was under serious grip of drug menace.
Waging a war on drugs just after taking charge of the State, CM Sarma said in the Assembly, “We heard about the serious problem of drug abuse in Punjab. But our anti-drugs operation in the past two months have revealed that our State is also under serious grip of the drug menace. Earlier, Assam used to be a transit route to carry drugs from Myanmar via Manipur and Nagaland. But we are now under the serious grip of large-scale local consumption like in Punjab. Many young boys are consuming drugs like heroin, psychotropic substances like Yaba tablets and All is Yours tablets, which were found to be in use among cadres of militant groups to carry on their activities continuously for days without any sleep.”
It has been proved that thousands of Bangladesh-origin Muslims have been involved in drug trade in Assam. Muslim drug peddlers have been arrested in large numbers in Manipur, Mizoram and Meghalaya
Since then, Assam Police have continuously been running the war against drugs and every day drug rackets are being uprooted by security agencies across the State.
Expressing concern over this development in his State, CM Sarma further said, “If we assume that the seized drug was just 10 per cent of the entire quantity smuggled into Assam, we can say that the trade in illegal drugs in Assam is worth nearly ₹5,000 crores annually”. The density of the menace has decreased with continuous vigil and crackdown by police, but still a long way has to go to eradicate the illegal trade in the State.
Insurgency Link
In the war against drugs, Assam Police successfully busted a racket in Nagaon district. This operation subsequently unearthed a connection between an extremist group of North East and narcotics smuggling in Assam. The Assam Police nabbed insurgent RK Hopingson with a huge amount of contraband which he was trying to deliver to a local racket. According to the police report, Hopingson belonged to the Naga insurgent group NSCN (IM) and his rank was Deputy Kilonser (Deputy Minister). Though police sources didn’t disclose the details, the militant has revealed many sensational details about drug smuggling in North East. Hopingson has confessed to being a part of the drug trafficking racket since 2012. Security experts believe that most of the insurgency groups of the North East region, based in Myanmar, are involved directly or indirectly in drug trafficking.
Drug Smuggling from Manipur Continues
On August 31, Assam Police successfully busted an inter-State drug racket and recovered heroin worth Rs 7 crores in Cachar district. One lady drug smuggler was arrested by the Cachar Police while recovering the contraband. The Cachar Police conducted a raid and seized heroin weighing 1.3 kg worth Rs 7 crores from the residence of the arrested drug smuggler. Police seized heroin filled in 100 soap boxes, weighing 1.3 kg, from her residence and the heroin was to be illegally transported from Manipur. On August 24, four drug smugglers hailing from Manipur’s Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts were arrested in Assam’s Cachar district while they were smuggling drugs. The Cachar Police arrested Mamang Haokip (36), Haobem Haokip (30), Henboi Haokip (39) of Churachandpur district and Gogou Paite (30) of Kangpokpi in Manipur. Earlier, Assam Police’s STF on July 11 arrested one wanted drug smuggler Mofizul Haque (34 yrs) along with heroin worth Rs 16 crores. One hundred and forty five soap boxes, full of heroin weighing 2 kg, were seized from the smuggler. These drugs were brought from Kangpokpi in Manipur to Assam. On June 26, Assam Police seized drugs worth Rs 38 crores seized in Guwahati and Karimganj district. Wanted drug mafia Hasan and Mustakin were arrested in Guwahati with 2.2 kg heroin. Police sources revealed that the consignment was brought from Manipur to deliver in Assam.
Mizoram Becomes New Transit Route of Drugs
Since January this year, security forces in Mizoram have seized heroin worth over Rs 289 crores in the international market. Amid the ongoing crisis in Manipur, neighbouring State of Mizoram has become the new drugs trade route from Myanmar. Due to violence in Manipur, drug smugglers have shifted their trade route from Manipur to Mizoram, said the sources. Interestingly, drugs worth over Rs 150 crores were confiscated between May 5 and August 31 ever since the unrest started in Manipur. The Mizoram Excise and Narcotics Department seized 27.7 kg of heroin worth around Rs 138.5 crores between January and June this year. The seized heroin was mostly smuggled from Myanmar.
Imam Involved in Drugs Peddling
So far, it has been proved that thousands of Bangladesh-origin Muslims have been involved in drug trade in Assam. The number of arrests by police, in the last two years in the State, has numerous evidence to justify this claim. Not only in Assam, Muslim drug peddlers have been arrested in large numbers in Manipur, Mizoram and Meghalaya.
An Imam of a mosque in Barpeta district of Assam was arrested with drugs and cash by police on June 20. Barpeta Police arrested the Imam with a large quantity of drugs while he was on his way to deliver the contraband. The arrested person has been identified as Arshaduz Zaman, an Imam of a mosque in the Dhan Bandha area in Barpeta district. The arrested drug peddler, Arshaduz Zaman, served as the Imam of East Deurikuchi Mosque in Barpeta.
`Imam Arshaduz Zaman resigned from his duties last year to start a drug business. In the greed for easy money, he became involved in drug trafficking and was running a drugs racket for over a year. As an Imam of the locality, Arshaduz was never in the radar of the police network and it was easy for him to continue the drugs racket. But it came to light with the arrests of a few other members of the same racket.
Most of the drug consignment passed through North East States are smuggled from Myanmar. Director General of Assam Rifles PC Nair recently said that Assam Rifles in the past four years has seized drugs valued at over Rs 4,267 crores in the international market. DG Nair said that apart from guarding the border, Assam Rifles has curbed illegal drugs trafficking to NE states on a large scale. Nair said, “We have successfully crackdown many drug trafficking rackets on the border. In 2020, we seized illegal drugs worth Rs 875 crores, in 2021 drugs worth Rs 1,402 crores were seized, and drugs worth Rs 855 crores were seized in the year 2022. The DG further said that this year the Assam Rifles have seized drugs worth Rs 1,135 crores. The seizure indicates the quantity of drugs smuggled from Myanmar to India every year. But this is just the beginning. n
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