Stepping up the ‘war against drug’, Manipur police successfully registered the biggest seizure of amphetamine tablets, suspected to be worth around Rs 400 crores in the international market. Subsequent action based on the information collected following the seizure, police arrested a Myanmarese drug load from the gate of the Imphal international airport  on August 24.

The combined team of Manipur police, led by the SP of Thoubal district, Dr. S. Ibomcha Singh, MPS detected 40 lakhs of the narcotic substances, also known as WY tablets, concealed inside rolls of linoleum carpets, numbering 100, originating from Myanmar, loaded on a pick-up truck intercepted while it was moving suspicious on the inter-village road of Phoudel Keirembi Mathak Leikai of Thoubal district of Manipur. 

Based on the disclosure of the driver, Mohammad Hussain, (35), police succeeded in arresting a Myanmar national, Kyaw Kyaw Naing also known as Abdul Rahim (33) of Kawhmu village, Moha, Rangoon, Myanmar, from the gate of the Imphal international airport. Besides recovering 60,000 Indian currencies, two mobile handsets, Myanmar passport, police also recovered 15,000 US dollars and 500 Kyats.

According to police sources, Kyaw Kyaw Naing is an international drug lord who has been actively involved in smuggling contraband substances in Myanmar, India and Bangladesh. Police further apprehended two persons, namely Md. Ayub Khan (41) of Yairipok Wangkhem and Md. Abdul Razak (35) of Yairipok Tulihal, said to be facilitators of transporting the YW tablets.

Despite the government of Manipur declaring ‘war against drug’ and stepping up anti-drug smuggling measures by the law enforcers, there has been a rapid rise in illicit cross-border drug smuggling  from Myanmar to Manipur.

According to  Narcotics and Affairs of Borders, NAB, heroin amphetamine or WY tablets and  brown sugar are the substances smuggled into Manipur from Myanmar using the porous 398 border the state shares with Myanmar..

According to media reports, 12,37,993  amphetamine tablets  were seized by NAB personnel and other law enforcers in 2019 so far as against 12,15,273 tablets seized in 2018 and 1,80,007 in 2017. The corresponding figure for heroin seizure is 9 kg seized till July in 2019 while it was 22 kg seized in 2018 and 7 Kg in 2017.

NAB sources revealed that the number of drug peddlers have also increased.

In 2017, 355 drug peddlers were arrested, which included 79 women. In 2018, the corresponding figure rose to 479, including 95 women and in 2019 the number of drug peddlers arrested till July stood at 203.

Significantly, brown sugar made inroads in the border state. In February this year, a Myanmar national was arrested in the Indo-Myanmar border town of Moreh in Manipur with 143 packets of brown sugar, suspected to be worth around Rs 3.6 crore in the international market.