An NGO named Women Against Social Evils (WASE) has sought assistance from the village defence party (VDP) of Leku, bordering Assam, to curb the menace of drug abuse in the region.
The NGO was of the view that several drug-addict youths in East Siang district have established a network with inter-state drug peddlers in the area.
A seven-member WASE team headed by its general secretary Joya Tasung-Moyong held a meeting with the VDP to discuss ways and means to check the prevalence of the menace at the Assam-Arunachal boundary area.
The WASE activists said a large number of youths, including teenage girls, in Pasighat and Ruksin have become addicted to drugs supplied by peddlers of a inter-state racket.
The NGO further alleged that some drug addicts from Pasighat and Ngorlung in Ruksin are found frequently visiting the Leku-Jelom area bordering Assam, where they take drugs with their companions.
Locals allege that the illicit trade is taking place right under the nose of the Arunachal and Assam police.
Notably, the police force of both the states have so far arrested more than 20 people involved in drug trafficking from Ruksin, Pasighat, Mebo and Jonai in Assam during the last five years, and seized huge quantities of opium, marijuana, brown sugar, and banned psychotropic drugs.