GUWAHATI, May 22 � A massive operation has been launched against drug pedlars operating in the State in collaboration with traders based in Myanmar after a latest intelligence input hinted at a large-scale narcotics supply deal from the region.
Various committees under the Narcotics Control Bureau have been pressed into action as have been other wings of law-enforcing agencies.
Police is also tracking the movements of the listed drug pedlars and keeping the vulnerable routes under surveillance.
The law-enforcing agencies, in a span of a couple of years, have seized narcotics worth nearly Rs 50 crore in the international market even though the number of persons arrested in this connection has gone down.
An official of the Narcotics Control Bureau told The Assam Tribune that though the number of cases registered under the NDPS Act has shown a decreasing trend for the last three years, cross-border narcotics deal remained a matter of concern. In the year 2010, about 34,019.925 kilograms of ganja, 6.456 kilograms of heroin, and 5 kilograms of opium had been seized, besides a huge quantity of psychotropic substances.
As per data available with the zonal bureau, 120 drug pedlars were arrested in the year 2010 against 86 cases registered under the NDPS Act. The cases relates to smuggling of drugs including ganja, heroin, opium, poppy straw, besides huge quantities of psychotropic substances.
�We have received some inputs about a possible deal with traders of an international drug supply chain and we are working on it,� the official requesting anonymity said.
�It is still easily available and in Guwahati too, drugs are being sold by certain petty traders. We, from time to time, crack down on them but the big fish manage to elude the dragnet. A list of the notorious drug pedlars is being prepared and the hunt is on to nab them,� the official stated.
