The poser: 'Kyam Pharaba Ngashidi' : Who are the big fishes?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 26, 2022 -

It is disturbing and scary.

It is under this environment that young children, young men and women with impressionable minds are made to grow up and all this just so that some influential people with deep pockets and far reach can get richer and more influential.

War on Drugs.

And it is under this slogan that reports of drugs being seized has become almost a daily staple so much so that one common refrain in the newsroom of The Sangai Express is, 'kyam pharaba ngashidi' (how much have been seized today) and it is interesting to note that this has never been followed by the query 'any follow up on the huge consignment of drugs seized on that day?'

A reflection of the reality that accompanies almost all the story of drug seizure or something else, such an indifference ?

The answer could lie somewhere in between, but judging from the frequency in which drugs are being seized, not only in Manipur but also in other States, with Manipur being named as the place from where the drug consignment originated, it is flummoxing that so far no names of any big fish have come tumbling out.

As pointed out many times in this column, the man or woman arrested with drugs on the streets of Imphal or from along the Imphal-Moreh route or at Assam, Meghalaya or Nagaland can at best be couriers.

It is hard to believe that anyone who has the resources and the means to try and smuggle drugs worth Rs 20 crore in the international market would take it upon himself to personally transport the drugs.

This is where the drugs network needs to be unravelled and exposed and the kingpins nabbed. Or is this asking for too much ?

What could be at stake is a question which only the Government and those concerned can answer, but such a reality does not exactly go down well with the people.

Judging from the drugs seized almost daily, the Government seems intent on living up to the slogan, 'War on Drugs' but to make the slogan more palatable and more meaningful to the people, the big fishes need to be netted and their identities laid bare for all to see and hear.

It is amid this reality that Assam police reportedly seized one lakh Yaba tablets worth about Rs 20 crore, with Moreh being named as the place of origin.

Here it does not need rocket science to understand that the drugs must have come from the neighbouring country. Two persons, one a police personnel, are reported to have been arrested along with the drugs.

A petty police personnel, the arrested cop must have been and it is hard to believe that they would have been in the position to procure the tablets from across the border, pack them and smuggle them from Moreh to Imphal and from Imphal to Guwahati passing through Kohima and Dimapur, the two major towns on the route.

Only someone with clout and money power and influence would have dared to try and smuggle out such a huge consignment of drugs worth Rs 20 crore or so.

The Sangai Express would be more than happy to learn the follow up action.

What is the status of the process to get the two persons back to Manipur for further investigation?

Or will this story also end up like the huge seizure of drugs from the National Highway near Kangpokpi some time back ?

Only the Government can answer this, but one expects an answer.

Even as Yaba tablets worth Rs 20 crore were seized at Assam, came the news that a drug manufacturing unit has been busted at Moijing Mina Bazar in Thoubal district. One woman was arrested.

No report of other arrest, at least till July 24, when the news was received here at the newsroom.

Will there be follow up action or will it be one of open and shut case now that one woman has been arrested ?

The answer is being awaited.