The police broke the record for recovery of cash related to the drugs trade last year.
In 2022, Rs 36 lakh was recovered. But in 2023 this figure jumped to Rs 45.6 lakh. The current year has seen Rs 60,000 recovered so far. Just yesterday it was reported that a consignment of 4.7 tonnes of cannabis was seized in Ri-Bhoi.
During a press conference here today, Director General of Police LR Bishnoi informed that drugs worth an eye watering Rs 300 crore were seized by the police in the last two years.
While the amount of drugs cash increased by less than Rs 10 crore, the value of seized drugs rose by more than double, from Rs 75 crore in 2022 to Rs 170 crore in 2023. So far this year, Rs 21 crore worth of drugs has been seized.
The state’s top cop said that despite these massive recoveries by the police, the problem of drugs is still very serious since the number of consumers continues to increase.
“The state is still very sensitive because of its close proximity to the Golden Triangle (major drug producing countries in South East Asia) areas. Earlier it was a transit point but now it has become both a destination and transit,” the DGP said. “To tackle this menace, Meghalaya police has adopted certain strategies like creating awareness, particularly among the youth by organising awareness programmes in schools, colleges and universities, and also through continuous operations against drug traffickers. Many of the drug traffickers are repeat offenders and many of them are interstate gangs.”
More statistics were provided by Bishnoi. In 2022, the police registered 116 narcotics cases, in 2023 it was 189 and in 2024, in the first two months, there were 13 cases registered.
The arrest figures are also going up. In 2022, there were 234 persons arrested. In 2023 there were 355 people arrested and in January and February of this year the figure stands at 25.
Since Bishnoi took charge as DGP, there have been 610 arrests out of which 10 percent were female traffickers, he informed.
Of specific narcotics, Bishnoi revealed that the amount of heroin seized in Meghalaya doubled from 7.5kg in 2022 to 16.3kg the following year. So far, 1kg of the drug has been seized in the first two months of 2024.
The one huge seizure of 4.7 tonnes of marijuana the other day in Ri-Bhoi dwarfed the figure for the whole of 2023 (1.4 tonnes) and 2022 (3.98 tonnes).
Likewise, seizure of yaba tablets (a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine) have gone up from 19,000 in 2022 to 60,000 in 2023. Tablets of other psychotropic substances rose from 16,928 in 2022 to 32,298 in 2023.
A purer form of methamphetamine, known as crystal meth, was also recovered in Meghalaya for the first time in history. The DGP said that crystal meth is very costly, with a street cost of Rs 1.5 crore per kilogramme, and 14.2kg was seized.
Cough syrup seizures in 2022 totalled 28,000 bottles but this exponentially rose to 88,000 bottles in 2023.
“In the recent operation by Ri-Bhoi police in seizing 4,750kg marijuana, the drugs were pure grade,” Bishnoi said. The drugs came into India through Tripur and Meghalaya was the transit route, he added.
