Many questions, but no answers : From Imphal, seized at MP
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 30, 2022 -

So many questions but no answers.

The only thing clear is that 65 kilograms of opium, neatly hidden in a carefully 'carpentered' space in the truck's cabin just behind the driver's seat was seized from a truck at Madhya Pradesh under Mandsaur police station, with the report hitting pages of the newspapers on November 28 and carried on the November 29 edition.

Apart from this, what is also clear is that the owner of the drug package is the driver of the truck from which it was seized and that it was on its way to Jodhpur from Imphal.

It is also clear that the said driver has been on the radar of the police for quite some time and this time they were fortunate to have netted him.

This is so far what is clear, courtesy the information received as news from Mandsaur, the place where the truck was intercepted and the drugs seized.

What however is not clear, at least to the public, is how the truck carrying the drugs consignment managed to make its way through the numerous check points along the National Highway to cross the border of Manipur.

And the truck was reportedly on its way from Imphal to Jodhpur, Rajasthan. From East to West, the drug ring runs through, it is clear and there can be no two ways about it.

More importantly how did the drug land in Imphal and from where ?

Was the drug manufactured here in Imphal or was it brought in from some other place, stored somewhere in a safehouse here and then taken out?

Who are the accomplices of the truck driver, or drug smuggler who reportedly arrived here, took the drugs and drove it all the way across the National Highways undetected ?

Some things just do not add up and this is where it is more than indicative that there could be hands of moneyed, influential and powerful persons in the whole scheme of storing the drugs here at Imphal, concealing the same in the said truck and making sure that it makes its way undetected across the National Highway.

The War on Drugs slogan should have more teeth.

It has to go beyond apprehending the petty drug pusher in some shady locality or joints and it has to move beyond arresting the drug couriers, who may at best be transporting the drugs for some fees.

How has Imphal responded to the information that has come in ? Has any process to take up the logical follow up action been taken?

These are all questions at the moment, but these questions should be dogging the law enforcing machineries here at Imphal if the War on Drugs campaign is to have any substance.

Underline this point. Other than the infamous Lhoukhosei Zou, who has been granted bail, Manipur has not seen or heard of any drug kingpin being hauled up.

For instance, the man arrested with drugs at Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh could not have come here without any contacts.

Where did he stay? In what language did he communicate with anyone here? Hindi or English?

Hard to think that he would be conversant in the local language and it is also a given that anyone who can converse fluently either in Hindi or English could not have been the 'petty drug pushers' who are so routinely arrested and hauled up.

Not the first time that drugs originating from Manipur have been seized in other parts of the country, most prominently in the neighbouring States of Assam and Meghalaya.

What is the status of all the drugs confiscated in the other.

North East States but originating from Manipur?

Answers to these questions should be given to the people if the War on Drugs campaign is to come anywhere near the understanding of a mission.

Unravel the whole truth behind how the drug managed to make its way through the numerous checkpoints on the National Highway to be ultimately detected at Madhya Pradesh.

Or did the drugs just fly out of here is a question that may well qualify the drug seizure story or report.

For instance what has happened to the Imphal Airport drug seizure case of 2013?

No answers so far. What is happening?