Manipur fighting uphill battle against drugs

RK Nimai

Former Bureaucrat

Manipur, which shares a 398-km border with Myanmar, is combating the menace of illicit drugs on two fronts — cultivation of poppy and ganja and conversion of opium into heroin, and smuggling of drugs from Myanmar.

The problem of hard drugs is now so serious that people are no longer bothered about soft drugs like ganja, except for seizures by the police and excise personnel.

Replying to a question in the House recently, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said 11 categories of illicit drugs had been seized in the state, including heroin powder (74 kg in 2022; 12 kg in 2023), brown sugar (500 kg; 35 kg), opium (496 kg; 49 kg), ganja (929 kg; 108 kg), ICE (9 kg; nil) WY tablets (346 kg; 66 kg), N10 tablets (151; 1,191), pseudoephedrine (118 kg; 33 kg), poppy seeds (23kg; 2.9 kg), SP capsules (34 kg; 200 gm) and cough syrup (39,952 bottles; 410).

Opium and ganja are mainly produced within the state, while heroin is either manufactured locally or brought from across the border. The rest all are smuggled from across the border. As the border is not patrolled and is loosely guarded, it is easy to cross it. Drives are conducted on a regular basis to seize illicit contraband, but the seizures are limited as illicit drugs, which originate from Manipur, are seized in neighbouring states such as Nagaland, Assam and Meghalaya. All security agencies have been empowered under the NDPS Act to seize illicit drugs and make arrests.

According to the CM, the number of cases registered under the NDPS Act in 2022 was 500 and this year it’s 120 so far. As many as 625 people were arrested in 2022 and 99 in 2023. From 2018 till March 3 this year, 217 have been convicted in 636 cases. But those convicted are mules or couriers; no kingpins have been convicted due to shoddy investigation. The conviction rate is poor, with many officials authorised to seize drugs and make arrests under the NDPS Act not being very familiar with the processes involved in seizures.

Another important dimension is the increase in the cultivation of poppy to harvest opium, which is converted into heroin hydrochloride or heroin No. 4 or brown sugar (heroin No. 3). In the early 1980s, small patches of poppy fields were cultivated in a few villages in the hills to cater to local opium addicts. This continued for a few decades till around 2017 when there was a sudden rise in the acreage. Poppy plantation seems to have shot up after the Myanmar Government refused to grant citizenship to the Rohingyas. Many of them entered Manipur illegally and were forced to work as labourers as they had no other source of income.

Though a little over 300 illegal immigrants have been apprehended, it is believed that around 10,000 have crossed the border and settled in Manipur. The Manipur Government claims that since 2019, the acreage has been around 8,000 acres; the figure is disputed as many claim that it is over 40,000 acres. There are limited avenues to verify the figures as the plantations are located in difficult terrain in the hills.

Since 2022, the government has started using drones to map the area, but the penetration is limited and the only option could be real-time satellite imagery. Many community leaders had promised to abstain from poppy plantation within their area last year, but unfortunately the area under this illicit crop has not diminished, forcing the CM to order the arrest of the village chiefs and others and filing of criminal charges under the NDPS Act against them.

Less than 10 per cent of the Manipur-Myanmar border is fenced and thus it serves as the transit route for illegal drugs to the North-East from Golden Triangle, the tri-junction of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand borders.

Manipur DGP P. Doungel, at a press conference in January, said from January 1, 2017, till January 17, 2023, his department had arrested 2,817 people and 2,243 cases had been registered under the NDPS Act. He added that during this period, poppy plantation on 15,642 acres was destroyed, including 777 acres this year. He said the state’s ‘War on drugs 2.0’ was a serious effort to destroy poppy cultivation.

In a reply to another question, the Chief Minister stated that till February, poppy plantation on 18,500 acres had been destroyed. From January 1 to 17, the total area of poppy plantation destroyed was 777 acres, which would have yielded about 9,324 kg of opium at an average yield of 12 kg per acre, which can be converted into 373 kg of pure heroin hydrochloride. The value of 375 kg of pure heroin is around Rs 1,500 crore in the country, though it is far lesser in Manipur. The total area destroyed till February is 18,500 acres. The effort has curbed the harvest of 2,22,000 kg of opium or production of 8,800 kg of pure heroin, valued at Rs 35,529 crore — which is equivalent to the state Budget for 2023-24.

To curb the menace of poppy cultivatoin, the state government has taken recourse to spraying of herbicides using drones, though the herbicide used — 2,4-D — is opposed by many people as it is volatile and can affect nearby plants. Switching over to a combination of paraquat and diquat, both contact herbicides that are non-volatile, has been recommended. Paraquat and diquat are costlier. Cutting down the poppy plants physically is still the preferred method, though a huge manpower is required for it.

Drones are also used to identify poppy plantations and efforts are being made to analyse real-time satellite imagery to identify these plantations in the hills.

CM Biren Singh has said that children as young as 16 years are getting hooked to drugs. He has stated that drug users should not be stigmatised; they should be brought to rehab centres for treatment and if necessary the number of government-run rehab centres would be increased.

Manipur is facing a serious drug issue — both its use and trafficking and transportation to other states and countries. It is believed that Bangladesh is the destination for WY (World is Yours) tablets. The state government needs to ensure that kingpins are convicted. The public and the Centre should support the state government to win the war against drugs. Else, Manipur will become the gateway of illicit drugs to other parts of the country.

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