Meghalaya Police Seize Over Rs 400 Crore Worth of Narcotics in Five Years

Correspondent

Shillong: In a major crackdown on the narcotics scourge, Meghalaya Police have seized contraband worth more than Rs 400 crore in just five years. Social Welfare Minister Paul Lyngdoh has voiced confidence that Meghalaya will defeat drugs just as it once defeated insurgency.

Asserting that the state will triumph over drug trafficking, Lyngdoh drew sharp parallels with Meghalaya’s past success in quelling insurgency entirely through its own police force, without summoning the army, unlike other states in the region. The staggering haul includes heroin pegged at Rs 327.95 crore, ganja worth Rs 38.26 crore, Yaba tablets valued at Rs 23.58 crore, white crystal meth worth Rs Rs 21.34 crore, along with codeine syrups, opium and other psychotropic substances. In the process, 603 cases have been registered and 1,061 accused marched into custody.

Felicitating eight personnel of the Anti-Narcotic Task Force (ANTF) after a Rs 4 crore seizure in East Jaintia Hills on Thursday, Lyngdoh exuded confidence that Meghalaya is scripting its own victory narrative against the cartels. “(This) shows that we have the professionalism, the capacity and the will power to deal with this problem and ensure that it is wiped out,” he declared.

Sounding a clarion call, Lyngdoh cast the battle in stark terms. “We either succumbed to it or we emerge victorious. We either become victims or we turned out to be victors. I am sure that Meghalaya will turn victorious (in this war against drugs),” he thundered.

Reinforcing his point, he invoked the state’s unique achievement of overcoming militancy without external intervention. “We did not call in the army when other states had to do that, Meghalaya was one of the few states that dealt with insurgency using its own police force. How many of us are even aware of that,” he said, underscoring his faith in the state police.

With 65 percent of Meghalaya’s population under 35, the minister warned of syndicates attempting to poison the future by targeting youth. He assured that the memorandum submitted by ANTF will be funded under DREAM, a multidimensional project integrating police, social welfare, health, law and education to dismantle the narco-web.

Hailing ANTF’s “dedication and bravery in breaking the backbone of the supply chain,” Lyngdoh noted their success in busting once-untouched hubs like the cantonment board—long infamous as a narcotics den. He vowed relentless pressure on traffickers.

“It is so easy to be an armchair critic and offers solution to all the problems that Meghalaya has but to actually be there leading from the front and proving your mettle day after day—that takes courage, that takes conviction and that takes dedication,” he fired back at detractors.

On technology upgrades, Lyngdoh disclosed that the state has already placed its demand for vehicle scanners with the Ministry of Home Affairs, with New Delhi seized of the matter.

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