Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that the central government’s mission is not only to confiscate drugs but to eliminate the menace of drugs. He said that the present governments in the northeastern states are trying to unite and fight the fight against drugs.
“Seizure is not our mission. It is our mission to root it out.”
According to Shah, the police in every northeastern state should go a step ahead and ensure that every drug trail is followed and does not end up at the stage of seizure. “The DGPs of all northeastern states should help each other. If drugs are confiscated from Manipur, the matter does not end here. Shah said, you should know where to go and to whom.
The Union Home Minister said that this was the second conference on the War on Drugs. He said the first was in Chandigarh and today, the Center aims to unite and fight against drugs in the Northeast.
In the “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav”, a decision was taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the aegis of Narcotics Control Bureau to destroy 75,000 kg of drugs. I am happy that instead of 75,000 kg, 1,50,000 kg of drugs have been destroyed. This is a great achievement,” Shah said.
About 40,000 kg of confiscated drugs were destroyed in the northeastern states in the presence of Shah, who almost supervised the destruction from Guwahati. According to a tweet by the Home Minister’s office, in Guwahati, the NCB burnt 11,000 kg of confiscated drugs, while the Assam Police destroyed around 8,000 kg of the banned substance.
The maximum 12,000 kg of narcotics was destroyed in Tripura, while 4,000 kg were burnt in Arunachal Pradesh, 1600 kg in Meghalaya, 1,900 kg in Manipur, 1,500 kg in Mizoram and 398 kg in Nagaland.
‘Dirty money, drug revolt’
Shah, who is on a three-day visit to Assam since Friday evening, said: Afghanistan and Myanmar were the two most important transits from where medicines entered India. He alleged that neighboring countries, such as Pakistan and Myanmar, were completely involved in drugs, while claiming that India Was successful in his mission to stop the drug menace.
“Whoever comes through Myanmar first enters the North-East. We have to fight against dirty money, which is related to drugs/crime. Militancy is also linked to drug trafficking. We are in that zone where it is clear that we have to fight in a strong way to protect ourselves from drugs,” Shah said.
He further said that some countries had legalized certain drugs, but they did so on compulsion due to the large and increasing number of drug users. “We are straight on this. The one who uses drugs is the victim, the one who sells is the culprit. I request all the chief ministers to have a meeting immediately after Diwali.
Shah said that the Northeast should come together to fight the menace of drug abuse. He said smuggling of heroin and methamphetamine across rivers from Myanmar should be the first target. “Investigations in drug cases have shown links to bank accounts of Myanmarese and even Nigerians. We are surrounded by rivers, so stopping it is very difficult but not impossible,” Shah said.
The Home Minister congratulated Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh for his efforts to curb the cultivation of opium and marijuana in his state, but he advised caution and called for artificial intelligence to detect and test cultivation in remote villages. Advised the use of techniques such as intelligence.
He suggested that the state police forces should seek the help of the Enforcement Directorate if money transactions are to be followed, while a special laboratory for NCBs is also being proposed. He also said that a list of 100 types of drugs should be made and the public prosecutor should be trained in the legal process when it comes to seizure and drug case trials.
“We have to train the public prosecutor and that is the most important thing. Making India drug-free is the dream of PM (Narendra) Modi and we have to make it a reality,” Shah said.
Earlier in the day, Shah also inaugurated the new headquarters of the BJP’s Assam unit in Guwahati.
Home Ministry officials on Friday said that the NCB is conducting a special operation since June 1 to destroy the seized drugs. On the occasion of 75th anniversary of Independence, NCB had decided that 75,000 kg of drugs would be destroyed by all the field units of the Bureau during this special operation of 75 days.
NCB achieved the target in just 60 days, much ahead of the deadline, and reiterated its commitment to the nation with regard to the fight against drug abuse. By July 30, about 82,000 kg of confiscated narcotics had been destroyed, officials said.
During the national conference held in Chandigarh on 30 July, Shah initiated the process of destroying 31,000 kg of narcotics by various field units of NCB through virtual medium. Officials said that during this special operation that lasted from June 1 to 7, the NCB destroyed about 1,09,000 kg of seized narcotics.
(with PTI inputs)
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