Human trafficking, drugs key problems of NE, Assam CM says quoting Amit Shah

Guwahati, July 14 (IANS): Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that drug peddling, cattle smuggling and human trafficking are the major problems of the northeastern region and these should be dealt with the utmost priority, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in the Assembly on Wednesday. Replying to the questions in the ongoing budget session of the Assam assembly, Sarma said that his government has adopted a zero tolerance policy towards the drug menace.

The chief minister said that efforts are on in all the northeastern states to fight the drug menace unitedly. “Home Minister Amit Shah has asked me to take stern measures against drugs, cow smuggling and human trafficking,” said Sarma, who launched a war against the drug menace after becoming the 15th Chief Minister of Assam on May 10.

The chief minister told the house that in just two months 1,897 persons involved in the illegal drugs trade have been arrested by the Assam police and over 1,100 cases registered under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

Sarma, who also holds the Home portfolio, said that during the past two months, 28 kilogram of heroin, 41 kilogram of opium and huge quantities of various other drugs have been seized by the Assam police from different parts of the state. He said that a public bonfire of the seized drugs would be held on July 17 and 18 at four places in the state.

“Some outlawed militant outfits and their cadres are also involved in the drug peddling. Some political parties are trying to demoralise the police in their war against drugs,” the chief minister said.

Promising to intensify the crusade against illegal drugs, the CM said that drugs are mostly smuggled from Myanmar making Assam a transit route. Sarma said hundreds of youths are being led astray in Assam with various drugs.

On July 1, the Assam police arrested a serial offender, drug’s manufacturer and peddler Jahangir Alom from Goalpara district and seized drugs worth Rs 10 crore from his residence at Bhalukdubi in western Assam bordering Meghalaya. In another major haul on June 17 in the state’s Karbi Anglong district, the Assam police seized heroin valued at INR 7 crore and arrested two persons, including a woman drug peddler. Both are residents of neighbouring Nagaland.