Meghalaya cops to coordinate with Manipur to tackle drugs menace

NE Now
SHILLONG, Aug 12: 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.
The State police frequently seize drugs from persons hailing from Manipur.
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.
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 Churachandpur 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.
“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 and if we can control at the border from Myanmar, maybe 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.