Drug dealer commandos remanded
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal/Thoubal, January 17 2023:
The five commando personnel who were arrested along with a huge consignment of contraband drugs by Kakching district police have been remanded to police custody for eleven days.
Meanwhile, former Chief Minister and CLP leader Okram Ibobi has questioned the reliability of security agencies with regard to the State Government's War on Drugs.
The five commando personnel were produced before the Court of CJM Thoubal today and the Court remanded them to police custody till January 27 .
Notably, Havildar Kh Achouba, Rifleman Th Subash Chothe, Constable Y Dineshwar Meitei, Rifleman M Premchandra and Rifleman N Dorendrajit were arrested along with 1.336 Kg of heroin and 80,000 WY tablets from Kuraopokpi along Imphal-Moreh highway last morning.
All five of them were attached to the Kakching commando unit and assigned duty at Moreh.
Speaking to media persons at his Babupara quarters today, former Chief Minister O Ibobi remarked that an alarming situation is emerging in the State with the involvement of security personnel in the illegal drug business.
Earlier Manipur only served as a transit route for smuggling contraband drugs from Myanmar and other South East Asian countries but today poppy is being cultivated extensively in many hill areas of the State, Ibobi said.
Involvement of security personnel in the drug business has evoked a serious question on the credibility of the Government's War on Drugs, he said.
It is a matter of grave concern that security forces have been found involved in drug business when the ruling parties, the Opposition party and many other stakeholders have been working hard to eradicate poppy cultivation and check the drug menace, Ibobi decried.
"Let us wait and see what appropriate action the Government takes up against the security personnel involved in the illegal drug business in order to avert such incidents in the future", Ibobi added.