Dwina Barbaruah
(dwinakashyap@gmail.com)
Assam's anti-drug campaign has exposed a disturbing trend of traffickers using women and children as couriers to move narcotics from the Golden Triangle into India. As enforcement intensifies, the state is emerging as the country's frontline in the fight against transnational drug networks.
A disturbing new trend
Assam's relentless campaign against narcotics has exposed an increasingly disturbing dimension of the illegal drug trade. Investigators have found that traffickers are using women and even children as couriers to transport narcotics from the Northeast to different parts of the country, highlighting the lengths to which organised crime networks are willing to go to evade law enforcement.
Officials involved in anti-drug operations say heroin, brown sugar and cocaine are often transported in small quantities concealed in children's pockets, bags and even inside dolls carried during train and bus journeys. Women, too, are increasingly being used as passengers to avoid suspicion during transit.
The trend has emerged as one of the most worrying findings during Assam Police's sustained anti-narcotics operations under the state government's "War on Drugs" campaign.
The Golden Triangle connection
The challenge confronting Assam extends far beyond its borders.
The Northeast lies adjacent to the notorious Golden Triangle - the border region shared by Myanmar, Laos and Thailand - which remains one of Asia's principal centres for the production of heroin and synthetic drugs, particularly methamphetamine.
Large quantities of heroin and methamphetamine tablets continue to enter India through the porous India-Myanmar border, particularly via Manipur and Mizoram, before moving through Assam to markets elsewhere in the country.
Political instability in Myanmar since 2021 has further complicated the situation, with organised criminal syndicates exploiting weak border controls and expanding trafficking routes.
Security agencies believe Assam has increasingly become both an interception point and a transit corridor in this international narcotics network.
An aggressive crackdown
Since assuming office in 2021, the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government has intensified anti-drug operations through intelligence-led policing, interstate coordination and sustained enforcement. The results have been significant.
According to data released by the state government, Assam has registered more than 16,600 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, arrested over 26,500 persons and seized narcotic substances worth more than Rs 3,253 crore since 2021.
The state government has also destroyed huge quantities of seized narcotics to ensure that the contraband never re-enters illegal markets.
In the latest phase of the campaign, Assam Police destroyed seized drugs valued at Rs 471.52 crore, sending what officials described as a strong message to organised trafficking syndicates.
The campaign has witnessed consistent enforcement over the years. In 2015, authorities seized only about one kilogram of heroin, but annual seizures have since increased drastically. In 2024 alone, Assam Police seized around 183 kilograms of heroin, with annual drug seizures during the past five years valued at nearly Rs 1,000 crore.
Authorities say more than 3,300 major cases have been registered over the past five years, while narcotic substances worth over Rs 3,227 crore have been destroyed as part of the state's zero-tolerance approach.
National priority
The intensified campaign also follows renewed national attention on narcotics trafficking in the Northeast.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has repeatedly stressed the need to dismantle drug trafficking networks operating from Myanmar to India. New Delhi has also sought greater cooperation from Myanmar to curb the production and movement of narcotics across the international border.
Officials believe that closer coordination between central and state agencies, coupled with stronger international cooperation, will be critical in disrupting cross-border trafficking routes.
The recent BRICS Heads of Anti-Drug Agencies meeting in Guwahati reinforced this approach through the adoption of the Guwahati Declaration, which calls for enhanced intelligence sharing, coordinated investigations and stronger international cooperation against illicit drug trafficking and organised crime.
Beyond seizures
Investigators acknowledge that modern trafficking networks constantly change their modus operandi to evade law enforcement agencies.
Using women and children as couriers demonstrates how criminal syndicates exploit vulnerable individuals to reduce the risk of detection. It also underlines the need for intelligence-driven investigations that target the masterminds financing and coordinating the trade rather than merely arresting carriers.
Experts argue that dismantling financial networks, strengthening border surveillance and enhancing cooperation among enforcement agencies will be essential to sustaining the gains already achieved.
Equally important are preventive measures such as public awareness campaigns, de-addiction programmes and rehabilitation facilities to reduce demand and protect vulnerable communities, particularly the youth.
A long battle ahead
Assam's 'War on Drugs' has emerged as one of India's most sustained state-level anti-narcotics campaigns. The impressive seizures, thousands of arrests and destruction of confiscated narcotics reflect an unprecedented enforcement effort.
Yet the discovery that traffickers are increasingly using women and children as drug couriers serves as a reminder that organised crime networks are constantly adapting.
As long as the Golden Triangle continues to supply narcotics and traffickers exploit the Northeast's strategic geography, the challenge will remain formidable. Assam's response, therefore, will have to rely not only on aggressive policing but also on intelligence, technology, cross-border cooperation and sustained public participation to ensure that organised drug syndicates are permanently dismantled.
The more the evil in a man, the less he will respond to sincere and pure love
— Swami Chinmayananda