Gateway to Northeast or transit route for smugglers?

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Sept 6: Guwahati, touted as the gateway of Northeast, is turning into a transit route for smugglers. The seizures by the GRPF at Guwahati since 2012 clearly indicate that the smugglers are using this  ‘gateway’ city as a transit hub, not only for drug smuggling, but also for smuggling of arms and ammunition.

"The smugglers are using this route. The RPF and GRP personnel keep vigil round the clock on the station premises and its surroundings. We have been able to thwart their attempts to sneak through," claimed a senior RPF official.

Since 2012, the RPF and GRPF have seized smuggled products worth in crores of rupees, apart from seizing cash to the tune of Rs 1.19 crore.

The seizures include 1457.5 kg of ganja, 25.7 kg opium, 6.9 kg morphine, 1506.5 kg psychotropic tablets, 3750 phensydyl bottles, 36, 000 strips of Proxyvan St tablets among contrabands drugs. The seizures also includes 13.3 kg gold, 12 pieces of Ivory and 18 Gecko lizards.

Interestingly, in ammunition seizure, a total of 1924 rounds of live ammunition have been seized so far since 2012, with the highest being AK 47 ammunition with 970 rounds, followed by that of 9mm with 391 rounds.

The RPF and GRPF have also seized 19 arms during this period, including a 315 sparking rifle.

In terms of explosives, the seizure is very low as due to the heavy presence of security forces, the terrorists often avoid the route. However, so far the RPF and GRPF have seized 1,847 Gelatin sticks, 1,412 pieces of detotor, 12 bundles and 90 meters of fuse wire, 2 IED and a grede. Meanwhile, talking to The Sentinel, the Officer in-charge of GRPF, Pradip Kumar Talukdar said, "Looking into the seizures, many will think that the kingpins themselves use this route. But the fact is that, they are small-time conmen who use to smuggle these items through this route. Mostly, they are misguided youths, who can do anything for money." "Society should join hands not only to avert a disaster by informing about uttended items or suspected smugglers, but also step in to ensure than the youths are guided in the right track," he added, expressing hope that such efforts will automatically bring down the crime rate.