Spotlight back on Lhoukhosei Zou : Verify the 'sold off' claim
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 27, 2022 -

It should be clear. The War on Drugs should not be reduced to a caricature.

It should be something much more than a slogan and this is where the BJP led Government at Imphal would need to demonstrate that it is ready and more importantly willing to crack down on the nexus.

To come anywhere near to this the Government will need to cast its net wider and acknowledge the fact that cracking down on the drug trade will mean much more than just arresting some people with drugs or busting drug manufacturing units and hauling up some individuals found in the vicinity of the manufacturing units.

It will need to go beyond the immediate and try to establish the hands behind the nexus and to come anywhere near this, it will first have to admit that the drug cartel would not have come this far without the involvement of individuals whose pocket runs deep and whose hands reach out far and wide.

It is amid this backdrop that an online publication broke the story that the vehicle found carrying 1 lakh Yaba tablets, worth about Rs 20 crore and seized at Assam was found registered in the name of the daughter of the infamous Lhoukhosei Zou.

Not surprising that this news went viral on the social media and it did not take long for a clarification to come from the daughter that the said vehicle had been sold off to another party some time back.

The interesting question is whether the Government would let it rest easy on the story that the said vehicle has been sold off to another party or individual or whether it would take up any course of action, now that person in whose name the said vehicle was found registered has been established.

Many would now be watching what the State Government does next.

What the Government does next will be significant, for it is not uncommon of people being summoned if a vehicle is still registered in his or her name, even after being sold off to a second or third party, if the said vehicle is found involved in say a road mishap or was used by a member of an unlawful organisation.

Will this line be followed or will the Government rest content with the declaration that the said vehicle has been sold off?

What the Government does next will be important, very important in the eyes of the public especially in the backdrop of the War on Drugs campaign.

Tongues must have surely started wagging at the leikai tea stalls, at offices and when friends gather and this is where the Government would need to convey the message that it is serious about the campaign it has launched with much fanfare.

The claim or clarification that the said vehicle had been sold off to a second or third party earlier, though it is still registered in the name of Zou's daughter can be true too and this is where the people would need to be convinced that it is true.

And one way of convincing the public would be for the Government to not rest easy with the declaration that the vehicle has been sold off earlier but verify the claim and put it on record.

As noted in an earlier commentary here, the drug situation is indeed scary.

The fact that the huge consignment of one lakh Yaba tablets managed to evade or give the slip at the check points and the security along the Imphal-Dimapur highway says something significant.

Not a task that any Tomba, Hongba or Chaoba can accomplish and this is where the need for the Government to crack down on the drug nexus becomes necessary.

Else the War on Drugs campaign will be remembered for years as a drive that netted the drug pushers and not the biggies behind the drug trade.

Surely the Government would not want that and efforts need to be put in to net the big fishes-the people with deep pockets and long arms to give substance and meaning to the War on Drugs campaign.