Give more teeth to the War on Drugs : Unmask the Kingpins
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 27, 2022 -

War on Drugs. This is a catchy line and more than sure that the Government means business.

And if this is the case then it is important that the Government takes one or two or even three steps up from the routine seizure coupled with the arrest of some individuals caught while transporting/smuggling the drugs.

A point which The Sangai Express has been stressing on for quite some time now.

The latest is the seizure of 2.15 Kg of brown sugar worth about Rs 4 crore from T Minou village in Chandel district followed by the arrest of four people who were reportedly transporting the said drugs.

A big catch no doubt, for drugs worth Rs 4 crore cannot be anything but big.

The matter of concern however is, does it end with the seizure of 2.15 Kgs of brown sugar and the arrest of the four persons ?

Reportedly the drug was detected while the four persons were moving in a Maruti Gypsy and a TVS Scooty and were coming from Moreh side.

The Golden Triangle angle is unmistakable here and the question of concern and interest is whether the seizure of 2.15 Kgs of brown sugar and worth about Rs 4 crore would end with the arrest of the four persons or not.

Is it feasible that the said four persons could have financed the whole thing, that is to procure the drugs from across Moreh, conceal it and then move ?

How did the vehicle carrying the drugs manage to evade the check posts along the Imphal-Moreh Highway ?

Look up Google map and one is sure to find that T Minou appears to be a nondescript village and is located off the highway.

Not a place frequented by travellers on the Moreh Highway and the natural question that follows is who is the person behind the attempt to smuggle the drug ?

Who has financed the whole operation, that is from getting the drugs at a price and working out the modalities to take it across the Moreh Highway and proceed towards the said village ?

Rs 4 crore is Rs 400 lakh and it is only the moneyed people who can even entertain the idea of dealing in drugs running into crores of rupees.

Has the Government authority been able to make any headway ?

These are questions which should be of concern to the Government and its agencies.

One also wonders what follow up action has been taken in the case of drug manufacturing units busted in different parts of the State in the recent past.

The story began and ended with the police and law enforcing agencies busting a drug manufacturing unit and the immediate arrest of some who happened to be at the vicinity of the manufacturing unit.

No follow up course of action has even been spelt out to the media and one wonders whether there have been any follow up action or not.

This may explain why there has been no report of any drug kingpin being identified and arrested.

The point is, the War on Drugs is a good initiative, no doubt about that, but there is the growing need to give more teeth to the campaign.

Those arrested from the more infamous streets of Imphal and other localities can at best be drug pushers, who are probably drug users themselves and this can come nowhere near the War on Drugs campaign.

A lot of publicity has also been given to police personnel destroying vast tracts of poppy cultivation, but seldom is it heard that any grower has been arrested or pulled up.

Sure two cops have been placed under suspension recently for facilitating the ‘escape’ of some village leaders for poppy plantation but this cannot tell the whole story.

Why aren’t the growers being made to pay the price for toying with the future of the land with their greed ?

The War on Drugs in what Manipur needs, but surely more needs to be done.