Barak Valley: A Laissez-Faire For Smugglers

Barak Valley: A Laissez-Faire For Smugglers

Special Correspondent

Silchar: Smugglers and their multifarious illegal trade go on unchecked in Barak Valley. Trucks loaded with coal from Meghalaya, fertilizers from the valley and Burmese betel nuts from Myanmar move unhindered to different destinations. Media continue to make exposures on them and the modus operandi adopted by a strong syndicate under political patronage. Assembly has been rocked on the issue raised by the opposition. In the just concluded Assembly session, Kamakhya Dey Purkayastha of Congress did not mince any words to say that all top ruling party leaders are involved in it. Dilip Kumar Paul retorted to give proof or apologize. But, nothing can stop it. Along with that, heroin, drugs and other contraband goods are easily smuggled in from Myanmar, Manipur and Mizoram.

In fact, the frequency with which heroin and other contraband goods are seized and the smugglers taken into custody puts question mark at check posts at the border and inter district points. In the latest instance, three smugglers all the way from Manipur took up accommodation in a hotel at Itkhola of this town in the morning of Tuesday. Acting on secret information of SIB, a team of police men led by Jagadish Das, Additional SP, raided the hotel in the afternoon of the day and from one of the rooms detained three smugglers.

The smugglers have been identified as Hoikholet Kipgen, Thongjangam Guite and K Francis. They all hail from Churachandpur of Manipur. From their possession, heroin kept in plastic packet was seized. The value of the psychotropic substances is estimated to be around Rs 1 crore in international market, said the police. They are suspected to be the part of a gang of smugglers, active in Barak Valley. The police is trying to find out the destination to which the heroin is to be taken and delivered and to identify the network and the route. The police from their interrogation have adduced vital information and are confident of cracking on the network. Three cars were also detained and seized from the hotel premises. The gang of three came by these cars to the valley.

More searches followed, but nothing new could be known. Even before the detention and seizure report in the media fades away from public memory, another story of smugglers comes out. All this indicates as if this valley is fast turning into a laissez- faire for smugglers. The civil society is worried at this ever growing menace and the future of the youths as addiction to seductive substances is fast catching up with them.

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