Meghalaya police would work out coordination plans with their counterpart in Manipur to tackle drugs menace.
State police said Shillong city would lose 50 per cent of youth to drugs in the next three years, if the problem of drugs menace is not addressed.
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The state police frequently seized drugs from persons hailing from Manipur.
Also read: Drugs menace: Shillong police to target house owners
They have realised that drug peddlers and other people ferrying illegal items use inter-state passenger buses especially those which have been designed with hidden compartments.
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Speaking to reporters on Monday, East Khasi Hills Superintendent of Police, Claudia Lyngdoh, revealed the seizure of 930 grams of heroin from the possession of a lady from Manipur.
The arrested lady, identified as Veineithem Haokip from Churachanpur district in Manipur, was travelling in a night super bus.
She was arrested along with the contraband on Sunday following intensive checking of vehicles on the Shillong-Silchar national highway at Mawryngkeng area in East Khasi Hills district.
Police intercepted the bus bearing Manipur registration plate (MN04-P-1451) and recovered three bags with 80 soap boxes from the possession of the lady and one boy (juvenile).
On a number of occasions, Meghalaya police seized drugs in Shillong brought from Manipur.
But the source of the contraband has been from neighbouring countries like Myanmar especially via the Golden Triangle.
Lyngwa stated that there has been a drought of drugs in Shillong due to landslide on the Imphal-Jiribam national highway as vehicles could not come from Manipur to Shillong.
She said according to sources, the cost of drugs is very high.
“We decided to check on the road and that is how this interception took place,” said Lyngwa.
“We realised there is a proper syndicate that is transporting a lot of smuggling items into Shillong including drugs by using passenger buses,” she added.
“If you have a passenger bus which has been cleverly designed to accommodate hidden compartments, it means this has been going on for a long time,” said the SP.
“Who knows that other buses coming from this area have done the same thing,” She said raising concern.
Lyngwa informed that the state police would like to interact with other states to find out and put a check to this problem.
The State DGP had recently attended a coordination conference at Imphal in Manipur and spoke on this aspect too, she informed.
A similar coordination conference will be held in Shillong and DGPs of various states would take part.
Also read: DGPs meet at Imphal discusses drug, human trafficking, inter-state crimes
“We had already discussed that drugs and stolen vehicles will be one of the main agendas,” she informed.
East Khasi Hills police recovered around six vehicles from Manipur which were stolen from Shillong.
“We would request Manipur to help us in and if we can control at the border from Myanmar, may be it will start to lessen down to our side,” said Lyngwa.
“As we know, the Golden Triangle has been the big problem, but if check can be done more stringently, things may change,” she asserted.
Lyngwa informed she had some talks with doctors on drugs issue and how to go bottom of it.
“It is so frightening when they shared that if Shillong and its people do not take this drug menace seriously, by the next two-three years, we would lose 50 to 60 pc youth who would become addicts,” Lyngwa stated.
She appealed to all concerned citizens to take the responsibility and come together to fight this menace.
She also said a number of petty thefts reported in the city were also linked to drugs issue.
“Just imagine in the next few years, we would have a society of zombies walking around in Shillong and people who will go to any length to steal and murder,” said the SP.
“Why children of 10-12 year old have become addicted? Is there no parental supervision at homes? Are parents too busy with other things?” Lyngwa questioned.
She stated that most of the arrested drug peddlers were women.
“Since I joined as SP, we have done around 22 catches related to drugs and seized so far, 2.3 kg worth Rs around 10 crore,” Lyngwa disclosed.