Director General of Police Dr. Lajja Ram Bishnoi today said that seizures in the last eight months of 2022 broke all records of Meghalaya in its 51-year history.
Under his watch, the police appear to have been on a concerted drive to tackle the narcotics menace.
In 2022 a total of 116 cases were registered and 234 people arrested. In that time, 7.5kg of heroin was seized but the vast majority of this – 7kg – was recovered by the authorities between May and December 2022, with only 500g in January to April 2022.
The DGP explained that 7.5kg is enough for 15,000 drug addicts. He also informed that many other types of narcotics were also seized last year, including marijuana, various forms of tablets (12,500 methamphetamines alone) and cough syrups (a particular problem along the Bangladesh border as much of the supply is smuggled over into the neighbouring country).
The large increase in seizures in the latter half of 2022 carried on into 2023 as well. In fact, the figures have increased.
In the first 70 days of this year, there have been 35 cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, which is an average of 15 per month. This is higher than the average of 10-11 per month in 2022.
So far, 3.2kg heroin, plus marijuana, syrups and tablets have been seized to date. Some Rs 28 lakh has also been seized, adding to the Rs 37 lakh from last year.
