Confiscating 'suspected heroin' : Convenient alibi?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 12, 2022 -

Time to raise certain questions.

Not uncommon, in fact very often, it is that one comes across the term, 'suspected' qualifying any contraband stuffs confiscated from anyone or anywhere and so it is that it is more often a case of 'suspected heroin, suspected so and so on stuff' seized and the identified person handed over to so and so police station etc.

In the face of the police or any law enforcing agency unable to scientifically deduce that the seized items are indeed banned drugs, it is acceptable that the seized items are qualified by the term 'suspected' but it gets dicey when no further reports come forth on whether the 'suspected seized' stuffs are indeed drugs or not.

Making things more uncomfortable is the possibility that the term 'suspected' can prove to be legal loopholes and it does not take any wizardry to work out that in the long time it takes for the Court to come to a conclusion, many things can happen.

If arms can go missing from the Arms Kote of Manipur police and which made news all over the place not so long back, there is no reason not to believe that anything can happen to the 'seized stuffs' and qualifying the confiscated items with the term 'suspected' can certainly be exploited.

Time for all concerned to look into this matter and the police ought to keep the people updated on the status of the 'suspected stuffs' seized.

If laboratory tests of further investigations reveal that the seized items are not drugs or any banned stuffs then a clarification should be issued, at least to clear the name/s of the person/s from whom the items were seized.

Not politicising it, but this is a point which political parties, particularly those sitting on the Opposition bench, can and should raise in the run up to the Assembly election.

Poke where it matters and this is perhaps the best way to let the police stop playing with words such as 'suspected' and how can anyone be arrested on the mere suspicion that he or she is a carrying some 'suspected contraband stuff?'

Time to give more teeth to the 'War on Drugs' slogan.

And the first step towards this would be to do away with the usage of all ambiguous terms such as 'suspected' for in the long run, such a term can only be exploited by those behind the smuggling ring.

It has also been noted that so far no drug kingpin has been arrested as a follow up measure to the numerous cases of drugs being seized from all over, particularly from the Imphal-Moreh road.

Common sense more than says that the man or woman caught with the consignment of drugs on the road can at best be couriers, who have been roped in to ferry the banned items for a fee.

What are the follow up steps that have been taken so far? Why are the law enforcing agencies silent on this?

Can the slogan 'War on Drugs' have any meaning by arresting some pushers from the streets of Imphal and other places and from Imphal-Moreh route?

The answer should be easy to everyone. For the Government to give more teeth to the drive against drugs and its trafficking, the call of the hour is go for the big fishes.

Or is this too tall an order, having political implications? This is another question worth raising and raise one should.