Drugs, money and guns

Drug trade in Manipur is worth many times more than the Rs.1,610 crore worth of substances seized between July 2022 and July 2023 by Assam Rifles. Drugs of various sorts are moved through Kohima-Dimapur route into Assam and then on to various destinations in India. It is left to one’s imagination on how much drugs pass through Nagaland to Assam. If the Assam Rifles, had between July 2022 to July 2023 seized drugs worth Rs.1,610 crore then it leads to the question of whether this is just the tip of the iceberg? If so, then there is surely more than enough reason to be worried. Despite the vow made by Manipur chief minister Biren Singh to wage war against drugs in November 2018, the declaration has boomeranged as the ethnic war that has engulfed Manipur is also speculated to be on account controlling the drug trade. The war cry on drugs is a nice sounding slogan what has been heard for decades but which has not made any impact. Sharing a border with Myanmar, Manipur has long been known as a stop on the “Golden Triangle Route” of the drug trade. The proliferation of opium poppy cultivation in the state’s hill areas has exponentially heightened the problem in recent years. The scale of poppy cultivation in Manipur has spread across 15,400 acres of land in the hills between 2017 and 2023, according to data from the state’s special anti-drugs unit Narcotics and Affairs of Border (NAB). The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an umbrella body of several Imphal-based civil society organisations, has demanded that the ‘central government should enforce detection and detention of illegal migrants and a war should be declared on drugs’. The COCOMI has been alleging that many Kukis are illegal migrants from northwestern Myanmar where racially similar Chins live and that many Kuki villagers cultivate poppies in hillside farms. Those who fled from Myanmar and who belong to the Chin-Kuki-Zo people largely cultivate poppies but all poppy growers are not Chin-Kuki tribes. Drug money is huge and attracts all kinds of people into its trade. It may be recalled that the chairman of Chandel Autonomous District Council (ADC) was arrested in 2018. For this feat, Thounjam Brinda Assistant Superintendent of Police, was conferred the Chief Minister’s Police Medal for Gallantry on August 13, 2018 in recognition of her efforts towards “War against Drugs.” Brinda was the first Police Officer from the state to be honoured with a state gallantry medal for her relentless fight against drug cartels. Talking to The Wire, Brinda said “The ADC chairman was arrested with more than 29 kg of drugs found at his residence. Nothing happened in that case. He was acquitted and his driver and some employees were convicted. We have been trying to file an appeal but the government is not interested,” said the activist. According to Brinda, the accused had tapped on his high profile political connections and for which she was shunted out. Manipur Tribals’ Forum, a body of Manipuri tribals in Delhi has submitted before the Supreme Court of India, alleging that the drug trade in the State is largely controlled by a nexus of drug kingpins who are close to top politicians. With thousands of crore rupees involved with drug trade, it is small wonder that this is also one of the main issue that has led to violence in Manipur.