Details of drug smuggling coming to light : Now go for the bigger fishes
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: March 28, 2025 -

Good job, but the question still remains whether this will begin and end with the seizure of over 9 kilogrammes of heroin and arrest of three persons or some follow up action can be expected.

This poser is being raised not without reasons but first let's talk about the seizure.

Full credit to Sekmai police for seizing 9.101 Kgs of heroin along the Imphal-Dimapur highway on March 25 along with the arrest of three persons, including a woman.

A little probing here and there has come to the knowledge of The Sangai Express that the seized drug is worth about Rs 1.80 crore in the domestic market and Rs 18 crore in the international market.

The amount of money involved is huge, for here one is talking in terms of not lakhs but crore and one crore is Rs 100 lakh.

Put two and two together and the temptation of hard cash must be great, especially for those who are more than ready to stick their neck out and make a quick buck, that too in terms of crores.

And as things stand right now, it has emerged that the drug consignment was handed over at Pallel on the Imphal-Moreh route and in all the steps taken up-to first getting the drug, the vehicle/s to be used, where to find the vehicle/s - the directives were reportedly received from a lady based at Dimapur and probably the drug was to be taken right up to Dimapur, probably after changing hands.

The operation was smooth and from what has been worked out during the initial stage of the investigation, everything was planned to the T.

A near perfect plan, only that the police somehow managed to get a whiff of the murky deal and managed to impound the vehicles used for ferrying the drug.

Not surprisingly the heroin was found hidden in neat compartments, made out of drilling holes and spaces on the body of the vehicle, which is a Bolero.

More than enough indication that this was a thorough job, probably demanding the service of someone well acquainted with the task of making holes or hidden compartments in the body of a vehicle.

This is not all, for initial investigations have revealed that a sort of an 'advanced' party was even pressed into service to inform the vehicle coming behind with the drug if there were any unexpected checkings on the way! This much must have registered in the knowledge of the investigating agency, the police in this case and one wonders how soon the follow up action would be seen.

Or is it going to be a case of the police not willing to spell out the next few steps, lest the bigger hands wisen up to the development and go into hiding ?

It may be a little too early to talk on the likely further course of action that may follow, but it is important that the Government demonstrates that its War on Drugs campaign is not to be taken lightly and the matter is taken to its logical conclusion.

In a way The Sangai Express feels vindicated in the sense that it has always held that those arrested with drugs could at best be just couriers and the job of the Government is to go in for the big fishes, the people pulling the strings, right from financing the whole thing.

And as things stand right now, it has come to light that the person driving the heroin packed vehicle was doing so for Rs 20,000 while the advance team was to get Rs 5,000 on reaching Senapati.

This much is clear and it is more than obvious that the drug was to move forward, probably to Dimapur and beyond, for remember the person, a lady, who appears to be the one giving the needed instructions is based at Dimapur.

One only hopes that the case is not allowed to 'die' at this stage or else Manipur would be watching a replay of numerous other cases, which have all met with silence after the initial noise of recovering drugs.

A case that comes to mind is the arrest of five policemen with heroin and Yaba tablets worth crores in January 2023 at Kuraopokpi area on National Highway 102, along the Imphal-Moreh route.

More than two years down the line and no one seems to know what has happened to this particular case and there was no further report on whether any big sharks involved in the attempt to smuggle the drugs were arrested or not.

There have been a number of other such similar cases, and one only wish that more meaning and more teeth is given to the understanding of the War on Drugs campaign.