Myanmar-based narcotics trade replaces insurgency as bigger threat in N-E

Aizawl/Imphal/Kohima, December 18 (IANS) The drug menace has replaced militancy as the prime threat in the northeastern states owing to the region’s close proximity to Myanmar, which according to the Southeast Asia Opium Survey 2023, is the world’s biggest opium producer.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released its Southeast Asia Opium Survey 2023 on December 12 stating that Myanmar is the world’s biggest opium producer.

According to the survey, from 2022 to 2023, Myanmar saw an 18 per cent increase to 1,16,000 acres in the land used to grow the illicit crop and a 16 per cent rise in production.

The growth can be attributed to multiple factors such as improved plot density, the use of irrigation and fertilisers.

Earlier Afghanistan was the biggest producer but since the ascent of the Taliban to power in 2021, the cultivation of opium poppies has seen a decrease of 95 per cent.

The report notes that opium farming in Southeast Asia is closely linked to poverty, unemployment, lack of government services, challenging macroeconomic environment, instability and insecurity.

Opium is a highly addictive narcotic drug acquired in the dried latex from the opium poppy seed pod.

Heroin is derived from the morphine alkaloid found in opium. Traditionally the unripened pod is slit open and the sap seeps out and dries on the outer surface of the pod.

After the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government in February 2021, over 40,000 Myanmarese have fled to Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland.

Besides the civilian influx, over 100 Myanmar soldiers including officers and many elected leaders also took shelter in the northeastern states of India, mainly in Mizoram.

With the arrival of the refugees, smuggling and illegal peddling of various drugs also saw a rise in the northeastern region of India with Mizoram turning into a major corridor of of the drug trade.

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Indian Army’s Eastern Command, Lt Gen Rana Pratap Kalita, said : “Any instability in India’s neighbourhood is not in our interest, it impacts us as we share a common border. The problem of India-Myanmar gets accentuated by difficult geography and terrain.”

According to various law enforcement agencies, various drugs, worth over Rs 1,000 cr have been seized after these were smuggled from Myanmar into the northeastern states and over 200 people including Myanmarese have been arrested this year.

After Mizoram, Assam, Manipur and Tripura are also facing a serious threat of drugs, mostly smuggled from Myanmar and traded to Bangladesh, different states of India and other countries.

In Nagaland, 456 people have been arrested and drugs worth Rs 190 crore seized so far this year.

Director-General of Police (DGP) Rupin Sharma said 318 cases were registered in connection with these arrests and 1,171 kg of ganja, 32 kg of opium, 26.63 kg of heroin and 5.46 kg of brown sugar was seized.

He said that 12 drug peddlers were recently arrested from the Zubza police station area in Kohima district, which led to the busting of an inter-state racket that operated in Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Punjab, besides Nagaland.

“Upon interrogation, it was revealed that the accused are suspected to have trafficked around 60 kg of heroin worth about Rs 400 crore within one year,” the police chief said.

To curb the menace of drugs, the state police has taken a series of measures, including awareness campaigns, inter-departmental coordination, better investigation and prosecution, and technology upgradation, he said.

Sharma said that extensive use of technology and inter-state close coordination for catching people involved in drug cases have yielded positive outcomes.

Eight Nagaland police personnel found directly or indirectly involved in drug peddling have been dismissed from service, the DGP said.

He said that three employees of different government departments have also been found to be involved.

Nagaland has a 215-km unfenced international border with Myanmar and has inter-state borders with Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. Both are being used by the drug peddlers for illegal trade of various drugs and other contraband besides arms and ammunition.

Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh and senior law enforcement agency officials have accused illegal immigrants from Myanmar and drug peddlers, including Myanmar nationals, of being involved in mass poppy farming and forest destruction in the northeastern state.

Ahead of the over seven-month-long ethnic violence, the Manipur government, during March-April, started destruction of illegal poppy cultivation and launched an eviction drive against the encroachers who illegally occupied the reserve and protected forest lands in the mountainous areas of the state.

Since 2017, hundreds of encroachers have been evicted from forest land in Imphal East, Kangpokpi, Thoubal and Noney districts. People belonging to Meitei, Kuki, Pangal (Manipuri Muslim) and Kabui tribes have been evicted from the forest land.

Poppy cultivation in Manipur was done over 15,496.8 acres. The Kuki-Chin community inhabited area in 2022-23 accounted for 804 acres and the Naga people inhabited area was 350 acres.

The enormity of the drug menace has assumed such proportions that out of the state’s population of 28 lakh, the number of drug-affected youths is around 1.4 lakh.

Manipur, which shares around a 400 km unfenced border with Myanmar, has also become a gateway for illegal drugs, state government officials said.

In Mizoram, the number of drug-related deaths was recorded at 68, including 11 women till November this year, 43 last year and 47 in 2021.

The first case of a drug-related death in Mizoram, a key route for the smuggling of various types of drugs and other contraband from Myanmar, was recorded in 1984.

A total of 1,804 people, including 218 women, have died due to drug abuse during the past 39 years, since 1984.

Drug abuse in Mizoram reached alarming levels with 139 deaths in 2000 while the highest number of drug-related fatalities was 143 in 2004.

Between January and October this year, various law enforcing agencies including the Excise and Narcotics Department seized 76.22 kg of heroin.

Besides various illicit drugs, including heroin and methamphetamine tablets, foreign cigarettes, gold, arms and ammunition, exotic animals, and areca nuts are often smuggled from Myanmar into the northeastern states.

Assam Rifles officials said that the highly addictive methamphetamine tablets, also called Yaba tablet or party tablet, is the main drug being traded illegally.