Top cop expresses concern on smuggling of synthetic drugs into NE

Agartala, Oct 10 (IANS) Tripura Director General of Police (DGP) Amitabh Ranjan, who was the Additional Director of the Intelligence Bureau for many years and until July this year, on Monday said that smuggling of synthetic drugs into the northeastern and other states of the country from the neighbouring countries specially from Myanmar, is a new threat and major challenge for the security agencies.

The senior police officer, who along with Chief Secretaries and Director Generals of Police of all northeastern states attended a meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on 'Drug Trafficking and National Security' in Guwahati on Saturday, said a coordinated approach of all law enforcing agencies are on to deal with the big challenge of synthetic drugs' illegal trades.

"We are trying to deal with the synthetic drugs' peddling from sources to the destined point so that the clandestine trades could be busted permanently," Ranjan told the media stressing on the technological intervention to effectively deal with the situation.

He said that the Tripura police has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the cases registered under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

The DGP and Tripura Chief Secretary J.K. Sinha were present when Chief Minister Manik Saha was briefing the media about the state government's anti-drugs operation, and to achieve the Central government's mission to make the northeastern region as 'Drugs free region'.

The Chief Minister said that since 2018, the law enforcing agencies in Tripura have seized various drugs worth Rs 200 crore and 1,776 cases were registered while 2,701 drug peddlers arrested.

"At the meeting in Guwahati, the Union Home Minister directed that if there is a shop nearby a school selling drugs, it has to be ascertained where the source is. The Home Minister directed that the central and state agencies including the Narcotics Control Bureau must work in tandem to deal with the drug menace," CM Saha said.

He said the meeting in Guwahati also stressed the need to strengthen the security along the northeastern states' borders with the neighbouring countries, use of social media and NGOs to make all the stakeholders.

The Chief Minister said Tripura being used as a 'corridor' for drug trafficking from Myanmar and Bangladesh and codeine-based contraband cough syrups were being smuggled from Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal to Bangladesh through Tripura and these are being used as durgs across the borders.

Chief Ministers of all northeastern states were present in the Guwahati meeting, where it was said that drug trafficking is a borderless crime and better coordination between all drug law enforcement and intelligence agencies and bordering districts of the northeastern states is vital to tackle it.

On Saturday, around 40,000 kg of drugs were destroyed in the seven northeastern states in the virtual presence of the Union Home Minister.