Assam Chief Minister Drives Road Roller Over Seized Drugs Worth Rs 400 Crore in Anti-Narcotics Campaign
The Assam government on Sunday launched a campaign to destroy seized narcotic substances valued at over Rs 400 crore, with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma initiating the drive by driving a road roller over hundreds of confiscated cough syrup bottles.
According to the Assam Police, seized narcotics worth Rs 472.51 crore are being destroyed across the state. Of these, drugs worth around Rs 300 crore are being incinerated at the 14th Assam Police Battalion campus in Nalbari district, which has been equipped with an incinerator for the purpose.
The items being destroyed include 58.88 kg of heroin (market value Rs 117.75 crore), 37,796.34 kg of ganja (Rs 188.98 crore), 2,29,449 cough syrup bottles (Rs 22.94 crore), 18,70,922 Yaba tablets including methamphetamine (Rs 78.84 crore), 39.07 kg of morphine (Rs 39.07 crore), and 79.77 kg of opium (Rs 3.98 crore).
Speaking at the launch in Nalbari, Chief Minister Sarma said the state government intends to further crack down on drug distribution networks, expressing concern that Assam is being used as a transit route for heroin, methamphetamine, and Yaba tablets that enter India from Myanmar through Manipur and Mizoram and are smuggled through Assam to other parts of the country.
Sarma noted that during his first term as Chief Minister over the past five years, 3,300 cases were registered under the NDPS Act and narcotics worth Rs 3,227 crore were seized. When asked about action against 'kingpins' in the drug trade, he acknowledged challenges, particularly regarding inter-state and international networks.
“It is very challenging to crack down on drug trafficking networks because the main traffickers sit abroad, and several layers of agents and sub-agents are used. But one thing is for sure, if the governments of Manipur, Mizoram, Assam, and West Bengal relentlessly fight against drug traffickers, and we are able to give them exemplary punishment, then we will surely be able to end Assam being used as a transit route,” he said.
Special DGP (CID) M P Gupta told The Indian Express that most seizures occur in districts bordering Mizoram and Manipur, and further along the transit route towards Guwahati, such as Cachar, Sribhumi, Karbi Anglong, Dima Hasao, and Nagaon.
